Don't know the date.
Offender: Unsolved
Age: 18 years old
Case #: 85-06117
County: Linn
City: Cedar Rapids
Date of Crime: December 19, 1979
At 4 AM on Thursday, December 20, 1979, police found 18-year-old Michelle Marie Martinko – her face and chest stabbed repeatedly – in her family’s tan 1972 Buick 4-door in Cedar Rapids’ Westdale Mall parking lot. The Kennedy High School senior had driven to the newly opened mall after a school choir banquet to shop for a new winter coat.
According to police, the girl’s parents, Albert and Janet Martinko, had reported their daughter missing at 2 AM. The parents called later and said they’d learned Michelle had gone to Westdale, and officers were dispatched to search that area. They found the car parked in the northeast section of the parking lot of Westdale Mall.
Wounds on the teen’s hands showed she fought her killer, but the medical examiner’s office said Michelle was found fully clothed and had not been molested. Detectives found no weapon or fingerprints to identify her killer, but said Michelle had not been robbed. Based on the number of stab wounds – particularly to the young woman’s face – police considered the homicide personal in nature.
Kennedy High’s principal said that Michelle would have been at the annual Kennedy Concert Choir banquet at the Sheraton Inn until around 7 PM. He said Michelle was seen at the shopping mall about a half hour later.
Police said they had few leads and appealed to the public for help. “We know that she was all right up to about 8 PM, but we don’t know what happened after that,” said the police. “So we are asking that if anyone saw her after that, if anyone saw someone with her, call us. If there’s any information at all, call us.”
On June 19, 1980, police released a composite sketch of the man they believed stabbed Michelle. Police developed the sketch based on descriptions provided by two witnesses. The sketch indicated a white male in his late teens or early 20s, weighing between 165 and 175 pounds, and standing about 6 feet tall. During the original investigation, detectives compiled a list of more than 80 potential suspects. More than 60 were tested and eliminated.
Using new technology, the Cedar Rapids Police Department was able to procure the suspect’s DNA in 2006. At a news conference held October 2, 2006, investigators announced they had developed new evidence in the 1979 murder and asked the public for assistance in identifying a male with a cut on his hand during the time of the murder.
In the two years following the announcement, police received a number of calls, a few which provided new information that helped eliminate a few more suspects. None of the leads produced, however, uncovered a DNA match to the blood sample. Police believe the blood that was found came from a cut on the killer’s hand.
Albert and Janet Martinko died believing they knew who killed their daughter, but there was no evidence tying that man to the crime. If you have any information regarding Michelle’s unsolved murder, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at 515.725.6010.
https://www.thedarksideofamerica.com/unsolved-michelle-martinko.html
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Short rope tall tree.
No kidding......
It says her parents died believing they knew who’d murdered their daughter. Did they suspect this guy? If so, why? Was he a friend of the family? An old boyfriend?
Other than DNA at the crime scene , No motive given, no sexual assault, whats the connection between these 2?
Another BTK serial killer? There are lots of unsolved murders in eastern Iowa.
Bump for later
More and more cold cases will be solved with DNA. While it’s a good thing, I’m not fully on board with LE using relatives’ DNA info from those testing places like AncestryDNA.
[Martinko was 18 when she was found dead in the parking lot of the Cedar Rapid’s Westdale Mall shortly after 4 a.m. on Dec. 20, 1979. The teenager had driven to the mall to shop for a new winter coat the previous day following a school banquet.
After her parents reported her missing at 2 a.m., police discovered the teen’s body in her vehicle about four hours later]
2 a.m. to 4 a.m. is four hours? (not blaming you)
Never understood why a persons fingerprints and dna weren’t taken at birth and put on file. Think of all the crimes that would have been quickly solved.