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On the eve of December 19, 1979, an 18-year-old high school student named Michelle Martinko was discovered dead in her family's car outside a mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was stabbed 29 times in the face, neck, and chest.
Even though the police were tipped over 200 times in the weeks following the murder, the case eventually grew cold as investigations stretched on.
39 years later after the murder, a person named Jerry Lynn Burns was arrested in Manchester, Iowa, and charged with first-degree murder. Through the use of advanced technologies, DNA samples from the offender were obtained.
But where is this cold-blooded killer now? Let's uncover where he is now in this article.
Jerry Lynn Burns will be in prison for the rest of his days
Burns was born in Manchester, Iowa in 1953 and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. He was around 25 when he killed Martinko in 1979. During the investigation, the police assumed that there were personal motives involved in the murder due to the nature of Martinko's stab wounds.
A composite sketch of the suspect was released in June 1980 with the help of two witnesses. The sketch looked like a man in his 20s, weighing 165-175 pounds, and standing at around 6 feet. Unfortunately, this led the police nowhere at the time and the case gradually got cold.
Almost 40 years later, with the help of DNA Technology, the culprit was nabbed and justice was finally served to Martinko and her grieving family. At the time of his arrest, Burns ran a powder-coating business called, Advanced Coating Concepts.
Burns originally refuted every charge of involvement in this crime during interrogation by claiming he was unable to provide the authorities with a "plausible explanation" for why his DNA was found at the crime site. On December 20, 2018, a district judge set his bond at $5 million.
Burns pleaded not guilty in 2019 and when his trial was supposed to begin in October of that year, his defense team requested additional time to review fresh pieces of evidence and gather witnesses. The trial was then moved to February 2020.
During the trials, Burns was found to contradict his own statements. Burns stated that DNA evidence had been mishandled in 1979 in one instance, but denied ever being present on the night of the murder in another. This revealed everything, and Burns was ultimately declared guilty of first-degree murder.
On August 7, 2020, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Currently, in his late 60s, he is going to spend the rest of his days behind bars.
Despite being known as a professional, Burns arrest got people talking about his family. His ex-wife, Patricia, committed suicide in 2008, and his cousin Brian Burns astonishingly disappeared. While these occurrences sounded suspicious, the police didn't believe Burns had anything to do with them.
DNA Profiling is a modern investigative technology used to compare criminal suspects' profiles to DNA evidence so as to assess the likelihood of their involvement in the crime. This technology helped the FBI arrest notorious serial killer, serial rapist, and burglar Joseph James DeAngelo (nicknamed Golden State Killer) in 2018.
To learn more about the murder of Michelle Martinko, watch Dateline: Unforgettable on December 22, at 10:00 pm on Oxygen 79.
