In a significant event, The Wichita Police Department has finally identified a suspect in the murder of Krista Martin, a case that remained unsolved for 34 years.
Krista Martin was just 20 years old when she tragically lost her life from blunt force trauma in 1989.as reported by CBS.
The police investigation revealed that she She had also been sexually assaulted before her death., making this a heartbreaking case to solve. Detectives collected DNA evidence from Martin’s body, but at the time they were unable to link her to any suspect.
Despite sending the DNA to the FBI crime lab, analysts were unable to find any matches. By 1992, the case had been resolved, leaving Martin’s family distraught, media reported.
Two decades later, Ember Moore, Krista Martin’s first-born niece, took an active interest in solving her aunt’s murder. In 2009, Moore, then 21 years old, embarked on a mission to seek justice for her late relative, driven by her determination to see her aunt’s case resolved.
This effort led to collaboration with the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, which created a suspicious profile using DNA collected from Martin’s body in 1989. Although the profile was entered into the national database, CODIS, no matches were found.
In 2020, a significant turning point occurred when the Wichita Police Department partnered with private industry genealogists and the FBI to employ Investigative Genetic Genealogy, a cutting-edge technique aimed at solving cold cases.
Genetic investigators built family trees to establish connections between DNA evidence and possible relatives of the suspect.
Finally, in April 2023, Investigators were able to identify a suspect: Paul Hart, a Wichita resident who had tragically lost his life in a car accident in Memphis, Tennessee, in March 1999..
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett expressed his belief that if the suspect had been alive, charges would have been filed. The press conference marked a significant moment for Krista Martin’s family, who expressed her gratitude for the efforts of detectives, who had gone to great lengths to locate the suspect’s family.
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