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Mary Lynn Vialpando's 1988 cold case will become the subject of Lt. Joe Kenda's Homicide Hunter on ID. The retired investigator will shed light on Vialpando's case and the killer, who was recently brought to justice more than three decades after the killing occurred. Reports stated that the victim was found beaten, stabbed, and r*ped in an alley in Old Colorado City.
A man named James Papol was connected to Vialpando's cold case using cutting-edge DNA technology in 2018 following a routine database search. The accused reportedly pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery and was given a 60-year prison sentence in May 2021.
Homicide Hunter: The Man With No Face is slated to air on Investigation Discovery this Wednesday, March 8, from 9.00 to 11.00 pm ET.
The synopsis reads as:
"Joe Kenda's investigation into the brutal rape and murder of a young wife and mother goes cold until DNA technology leads cold-case detectives to the most unlikely of killers 30 years later."
Mary Lynn Vialpando's 1988 murder case is allegedly the first in Colorado's history where DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene
Mary Lynn Vialpando, a 24-year-old married mother-of-one from Colorado Springs, was found brutally stabbed, r*ped, and beaten to death in an alley in Colorado Springs on June 5, 1988. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Vialpando's brutal killing left investigators perplexed for decades as the case remained unsolved without a single suspect being identified or arrested. Their first breakthrough came in September 2018 when authorities finally made an arrest after DNA evidence, including the suspect's semen, collected from the crime scene all those years ago, matched James Papol's genetic profile.
Reports state that Mary Lynn Vialpando's case is allegedly the first in Colorado history where DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene.
At the time of the ground-breaking discovery, Papol was already admitted to the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo for unrelated crimes. After some consideration, he was arrested and initially charged with first-degree murder for which he pleaded not guilty by the reason of insanity.
In October 2020, a murder trial got underway, but it was deemed a mistrial on the second day of jury selection following a potential COVID-19 threat.
In February of the following year, Papol agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the 1988 homicide of 24-year-old Vialando. At the time of the murder, the accused was only 15 years old.
Before being sentenced in May 2021, James Papol had already spent more than 10 years at the Colorado Mental Health Institute
In May 2021, 48-year-old James Papol was sentenced to 60 years in the Department of Corrections for the decades-old brutal murder of Mary Lynn Vialpando. Sources state that he has an extensive rap sheet and had already spent more than a decade living at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo.
According to The Pueblo Chieftain, in his guilty plea, Papol reportedly confessed to the murder, telling 4th Judicial District Judge Robin Chittum that:
"In 1988, [he] saw Ms. Vialpando in an alley and [he] noticed that she was wearing some jewelry. In an attempt to rob her of that jewelry, [he] did stab Ms. Vialpando with a knife, then [he] pushed her to the ground when she hit her head on a rock."
Papol, however, did not discuss Vialpando's r*pe during his court session since it was not part of his plea.
Mary Lynn Vialpando’s sister, Cynthia Renkel, described the murder as "a heinous crime," further adding that "in order for [her] to move on completely, [she] will have to forgive him."
Renkel expressed her hope that the conviction and sentence would bring some solace to Vialpando's husband and daughter, who was only four years old when her was slain.
ID's Homicide Hunter: The Man With No Face airs with Mary Lynn Vialpando's case on Wednesday at 9.00 pm ET.
