Michelle Martinko’s Murder Solved After 40 Years

Michelle Martinko was a bright student found slumped in her car after being stabbed

The 40-Year Hunt for Michelle Martinko’s Killer: How DNA Finally Solved Iowa’s Most Haunting Cold Case

December 19, 1979, started like any other winter evening for 18-year-old Michelle Martinko. The popular Kennedy High School senior had driven to Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to pick up a new coat she’d been saving up for. It should have been a quick errand—just another teenager enjoying the holiday season. Instead, it became the beginning of one of Iowa’s most notorious cold cases, a murder mystery that would haunt the state for four decades.

Michelle never made it home that night.

A Gruesome Discovery

At 4 a.m. on December 20, 1979, mall security discovered Michelle’s body slumped in the passenger seat of her family’s Buick. The scene was horrific. The blonde teenager had been stabbed 29 times—primarily in the face and neck. Her hands bore defensive wounds, evidence that she had fought desperately for her life. The killer had worn rubber gloves, leaving no fingerprints, and had taken nothing from the scene. Michelle still had $186 in her purse. She hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

The randomness of the attack baffled investigators. Michelle was a good student, well-liked, with no enemies. She had simply gone to the mall alone, something she’d been nervous about doing. A friend would later recall that Michelle had mentioned feeling like she was being followed in recent weeks.

The Long Cold Winter

For the first few years, Cedar Rapids Police chased every lead. They questioned Michelle’s ex-boyfriend extensively, but he had a solid alibi. They interviewed mall employees, other shoppers, anyone who might have seen something. The case file grew thick with dead ends.

“By 1986, this case is sitting on ice,” Cedar Rapids police investigator Matt Denlinger would later tell CBS’s 48 Hours. The trail had gone completely cold. Michelle’s parents died without ever knowing who killed their daughter. Her friends grew up, moved away, started families, but always carried the weight of that unanswered question.

The Break That Changed Everything

In 2006—27 years after the murder—cold case detective Doug Larison made a discovery that would change everything. While reviewing the evidence, he found that blood scrapings taken from the car’s gear shift had been sent for DNA testing years earlier, but the results had never been followed up on. Further testing revealed male DNA on both the gear shift and Michelle’s dress.

This was 2006—genetic genealogy was still in its infancy, but investigators finally had something concrete: the killer’s DNA. They uploaded the profile to CODIS, the FBI’s DNA database, but got no hits. The killer had never been arrested. The case remained cold, but now there was hope.

The Technology That Solved Everything

By 2018, genetic genealogy had revolutionized cold case investigations. Investigators could now upload crime scene DNA to public ancestry databases and identify potential suspects through familial matches. When they ran the killer’s DNA through these databases, they found a distant relative who had submitted their DNA for genealogy purposes.

This led them to three brothers living in Iowa. Police began surveillance, waiting for their chance to collect DNA samples. They didn’t have to wait long. In October 2018, Jerry Burns, then 64, visited a Pizza Ranch restaurant. When he left, investigators collected the straw he’d used. The DNA was an exact match to the blood found in Michelle’s car.

The Arrest That Shocked a Community

On December 19, 2018—exactly 39 years to the day after Michelle’s murder—police arrested Jerry Lynn Burns at his Manchester, Iowa home. The arrest sent shockwaves through the community. Burns was a successful business owner, married with children, a respected member of his small town. He had no criminal record. Friends were stunned.

“You’d have a hard time convincing me that Jerry did this,” Mike McElliott, who had known Burns for 40 years, told local news. “I just, I just could not believe that.”

Burns claimed he had never met Michelle Martinko. But the DNA didn’t lie, and investigators built their case around the scientific evidence that had taken four decades to uncover.

Justice Finally Served

In February 2020, after a trial that relied heavily on DNA evidence and the testimony of investigators who had spent years working the case, Jerry Burns was convicted of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Michelle played a critical role in identifying her own killer,” John Stonebraker, Michelle’s brother-in-law, said in a victim impact statement. “The defensive wounds on her hand show it. She fought so hard that she was able to deflect the killer’s knife so that he stabbed himself, leaving the blood that caught him. In a very real way, Michelle became her own best witness.”

The Appeal That Failed

Burns hired high-profile attorney Kathleen Zellner—best known for representing Steven Avery of Making a Murderer fame—to appeal his conviction. They argued that investigators had violated Burns’ constitutional rights by collecting his DNA from the discarded straw without a warrant. In March 2023, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejected the appeal, upholding the conviction and ensuring Burns would die in prison.

A Case That Changed Everything

The Michelle Martinko case represents more than just a solved murder—it’s a testament to the power of perseverance and advancing technology. For 40 years, investigators refused to give up. They preserved evidence, followed up on leads, and when new technologies emerged, they were ready.

Today, Michelle would have been in her early 60s, perhaps with children and grandchildren of her own. Instead, her legacy lives on as one of the first major cases cracked through genetic genealogy, paving the way for dozens of other cold case resolutions. The teenager who fought so desperately for her life in that mall parking lot finally got her justice—four decades later, but not a moment too late for those who never stopped seeking answers.

The case remains a chilling reminder that some killers walk among us, living seemingly normal lives while carrying the weight of their terrible secrets. But it’s also a powerful testament to the truth that serves as the foundation of every cold case investigation: time may pass, evidence may age, but DNA never forgets.