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Jerry Westrom is currently serving a life sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility–St. Cloud. He was convicted in 2022 for the 1993 stabbing death of Jeanie Childs in Minneapolis.
As per a CBS News report dated August 25, 2022, the jury found Westrom guilty of first-degree premeditated murder after a two-hour deliberation. His conviction followed the use of forensic genetic genealogy, which allowed authorities to identify him using DNA from a napkin discarded at a hockey game.
According to a CBS Minnesota report dated October 21, 2024, Westrom later appealed the conviction. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the first-degree conviction while vacating the second-degree charge due to legal redundancy. The United States Supreme Court chose not to review his case.
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Westrom’s current status and the events that led to his arrest will be the focus of 48 Hours, titled The Footprint, airing on May 17, 2025, at 10 pm ET/PT, on May 17, 2025. The upcoming episode will revisit how decades-old evidence, combined with modern technology, helped investigators close one of Minnesota’s longest cold cases.
Jerry Westrom, 56, was linked to the cold case through DNA collected from a napkin he threw away at a hockey game
On June 13, 1993, Jeanie Ann Childs was found stabbed to death inside her apartment at the Horn Towers complex in south Minneapolis. Responding to reports of blood leaking into a neighbor’s unit, police forced entry and discovered her body partially beneath her bed. The bedroom was chaotic, blood spattered on the walls and floor, and signs of a struggle were evident.
Jeanie Childs, 35, had been stabbed approximately 65 times, including wounds inflicted after death, according to a CBS News report dated May 16, 2025. She was wearing only socks, but investigators noticed something unusual—bare, bloody footprints tracked across the floor. Since Childs had not been barefoot, investigators determined the prints had to belong to her killer.
Forensic teams documented the footprints and began comparing them to known individuals in Childs’ life. Arthur Gray, a man she lived with, was initially scrutinized, but he had a confirmed alibi. This left the case without a primary suspect, and it eventually went cold for over two decades.
How Jerry Westrom was identified
In 2015, with advances in DNA technology, investigators reopened the cold case. Forensic genealogist Andrea Feia discovered a recurring DNA profile on multiple items at the scene, including a towel and a comforter. This DNA was submitted to genealogy databases, which pointed to two brothers from Minnesota, one of whom was Jerry Westrom.
To obtain a direct DNA sample, investigators followed Jerry Westrom to a hockey game in Wisconsin in January 2019. According to a FOX 9 report dated May 8, 2024, agents recovered a napkin he discarded after eating. That sample was then matched to DNA found on several items in the victim's apartment.
Westrom denied ever knowing Childs or being at the location. However, forensic experts also linked him to the bloody footprints using analysis of friction ridge patterns from his feet.
Jerry Westrom was charged with second-degree murder in February 2019. He later faced trial in 2022. According to a CBS Minnesota report dated August 25, 2022, a jury convicted him of first-degree premeditated murder after just two hours of deliberation.
His legal team maintained that the evidence was mishandled and pointed to an alternative suspect, but jurors cited the DNA and footprint as decisive.
Appeals and legal status
Jerry Westrom appealed the decision, but in 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the first-degree murder conviction and vacated the second-degree charge, citing legal procedural rules. His petition was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning the court opted not to take up the case.
Jerry Westrom will become eligible for parole in 2052, by which time he will be 86 years old. He has requested support from the Great North Innocence Project and maintains his innocence.
48 Hours will revisit the timeline and forensic efforts in The Footprint, bringing new focus to a case solved through genetic genealogy and persistence over decades.
Stay tuned for more updates.
