Nearly fifty years after a teenage babysitter was found stabbed to death, there is a suspect in her murder, police in Colorado said.
DNA from a bloodstain The blue jumpsuit of 14-year-old Maria Loraine Honzell helped investigators identify William Charles Kernan Jr., who died in 2010, as a suspect in her 1977 murder, Colorado Springs police said in a May 8 news release .
“The family and friends of Maria Honzell have waited more than 47 years for justice for Maria,” police said.
On the evening of Feb. 7, 1977, Maria was babysitting a neighbor in her apartment building, police said.
When the mother arrived home shortly before 11:30 p.m., police said she found Maria dead in the master bedroom.
The children, ages 6 and 8, were uninjured and were “sleeping in their beds” when their mother returned home, police said.
Officers arrived shortly after and found Maria dead “with multiple stab wounds to her chest and neck,” according to police.
The county coroner ruled Maria’s death a homicide, police said.
Despite an extensive investigation, which included reports, evidence and interviews, police said the case remained cold.
With advances in DNA technology, police said they submitted several pieces of evidence to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for analysis, and a man’s DNA profile was created with a bloodstain from clothing by Maria.
However, the profile did not match any profile in the databases, including those in the Combined DNA Indexing System.
Then, in 2019, police said investigators turned their efforts to genetic genealogy.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. Through genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
“For forensic investigations, (genetic genealogy) is used to generate highly informative leads as to the possible identity of a victim or unknown offender,” police said.
After submitting blood from Maria’s blue jumpsuit to Parabon NanoLabs, a Virginia-based genetic genealogy company, police said the organization created a “genetic data profile” for the unknown man.
The profile was then uploaded to public databases in hopes of finding someone who might share the man’s DNA, police said.
“Extensive searches” led investigators to Kernan, police said.
Because Kernan was cremated and has no living relatives, police said they were unable to use DNA to confirm he was the man from Maria’s case.
However, police said they confirmed that Kernan was “a student at a local university and an acquaintance of the woman for whom Maria Honzell was babysitting the night of her murder.”
The investigation also showed he had previously been to the apartment complex, according to police.
Detectives asked the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office to review the case using genetic genealogy results that point to Kernan as a suspect, police said.
“After the…
