- [Narrator] A secret couple looking for privacy
make a horrifying discovery
behind a log that blocks their path.
They see a woman in severe distress.
- She'd been shot in the head.
She was only wearing panties, socks,
and the waffle stomper boots.
- [Narrator] After a vicious attack,
she's still alive,
but unable to talk.
- This woman has a bullet wound above her right ear,
which very likely has impacted her ability to speak.
- Walter and Cathy are in a state of shock
at their discovery
and waste no time getting the young woman into their car.
- [Narrator] The couple rushed the woman to a hospital,
but she's declared dead on arrival.
- I lost my closest friend that day.
- Police round up every suspect they can find,
but there's no evidence to point at any of them.
- All law enforcement has at this point
is circumstantial evidence.
They have pieces of information
that may suggest there is an opportunity
for the suspect to have been the killer,
but is there motive?
Is there concrete evidence?
They have nothing.
- This particular case was obviously done by a stranger.
When a stranger commits this kind of crime
and you run outta leads,
you know you're at a point where,
is it even solvable anymore?
It's probably unsolvable.
- [Narrator] It would take decades for police
to realize the potential of a key piece of evidence
waiting to unlock the case.
(suspenseful music)
- The unsolved ones, we have to stand up.
- And approach these cases in a way outside the box.
- Let the world knows
that those out there that did commit a murder,
there are people that are coming after you.
- There's just a lot of good people
trying to do the right thing.
- Because it's something
that you have to be passionate about.
- Solve this,
bring some peace to the family at least
just doing my job.
(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] Snohomish County, Washington,
20 minutes north of Seattle.
It's known as the heart of the Pacific Northwest.
The area boasts a growing tech sector,
aerospace industry,
and modern agriculture,
along with a population of nearly a million.
- Snohomish was a quiet place where kids could play.
It was rural.
People rode horses and did simple things for fun.
- [Narrator] But in 1972,
development hasn't reached the area yet.
There are plenty of places in the county
where no one can see you.
33-year-old Walter Morris and 18-year-old Cathy Gogal
pull into a secluded part of a forest in Snohomish County.
- It's not entirely clear
what Cathy and Walter are doing in the forest.
They tell police they were going to practice
shooting Walter's 22-caliber rifle,
but it's also a good place to spend their time together,
since they were keeping their relationship a secret.
- [Narrator] Turning off Penny Creek Road,
Walter and Cathy are blocked by a downed tree
and stop the car to move it.
Behind the tree,
they see a woman in severe distress.
- It was by chance that they found her there.
- [Narrator] The young woman is almost entirely nude,
clutching her bra in her hand.
She's still alive,
but unable to talk.
- This woman has a bullet wound above her right ear,
which very likely has impacted her ability to speak.
- They observed that she'd been shot in the head.
They saw that there was a lot of semen in her underpants.
She was only wearing panties, socks,
and the waffle stomper boots.
She was actually thrashing a little bit,
so they thought that they could save her.
- Walter and Cathy are in a state of shock
at their discovery
and waste no time getting the young woman into their car.
- The girl held Jody's clothing up over her
to cover her body
and held her head up to keep her airway open
while they drove to the hospital as quickly as they could
to get her some help.
- Time is of the essence,
given the condition the young woman is found in.
She has a gunshot wound to the head and is unable to speak.
- [Narrator] The couple rushed the woman to a hospital,
but she's declared dead on arrival.
(telephone rings)
County sheriffs are alerted of the crime
and begin looking for a killer.
- Normally, when you go to a crime scene,
you try not to go in and disturb anything.
So the initial patrol people cordon everything off
to keep everybody out.
And then when the detectives arrive,
they go through methodically trying to process everything
without disturbing anything.
So the first thing they're gonna do is take photographs
of the entire area and look for evidence as they move in.
- When the police are notified of this crime,
there's very little to go on.
All they can do is canvass the area
and ask people if they see the young woman
before she's murdered.
- [Narrator] Investigators talk to a 14-year-old young woman
who works at a fruit stand on her family's property,
which is along Jody's route to the stable.
- Kenda tells the police
she remembers a young woman on a 10-speed bike
riding by that day.
The young woman would sometimes buy fruit for her horse
on the way up to the stables,
located a few miles up the road.
And she remembered the boots
the woman was wearing that date,
which struck Kenda as unusual for a person riding a bike.
- [Narrator] While scouting the area,
police find a white 10-speed bike
not far from where the woman was found.
As the area is flooded with deputies,
police question the owner of the stables,
who gives them the name
they've desperately been searching for.
- [Glen] The owners of the stable pieced together
that the young woman police are looking for
could be 20-year-old Jody Loomis.
- [Narrator] By the time police arrive
at the doorstep of Jody Loomis's house,
she has already been missing for several hours.
- Her mother had given her a dime to call home
if she was going to be late,
but that call never came,
so everyone in the house was under intense stress.
- I noticed that my mom and dad,
they had a funny look on their face and they were like,
"Jody should have been home quite a while ago,
and we haven't heard from her."
(suspenseful music)
A knock came on the door
and it was a detective
and said, "We think we have your daughter."
My mom went down to the ground
and before my dad could even get to her.
That's a moment.
There's those moments everybody has in their life
and that's one for me.
The last thing my mom made sure of was,
"Did she have that dime in her pocket?"
We always had to carry a dime with us
in case we ever needed to make a call.
I was 12 years old when we lost Jody and my world changed.
I lost my closest friend that day.
- [Narrator] Jody lives in a house
with her parents and sister Jana,
along with her fiance Jim.
- By all accounts,
Jody is a kind free spirit who thinks for herself.
- If she loved you, she loved you,
and that didn't mean she wouldn't be mad at you
in the next moment,
but she loved you.
- [Narrator] Jody is an animal lover and a talented artist.
- [Jana] I really appreciate what she was able to do.
- [Narrator] In the early 1970s,
brown suede boots with a thick waffle-shaped sole
became a fashion trend.
The so-called waffle stomper boots may have been warm
for a sunny August day,
but Jody wears them anyway.
- Jody is petite and has the same shoe size as her sister,
so she borrows her sister's boots.
- If she hadn't worn those boots,
who knows whether the girl at the fruit stand
would've noticed Jody ride past on her bike that day.
- [Narrator] Police investigate the hours leading up
to Jody's horrific attack in the forest.
Jody leaves her home on her bicycle
in the afternoon of August 23rd.
- My mom would often drive Jody,
but she was getting into bicycling with her fiance
and was trying to get in better shape
so she could keep up with them,
and so she decided to ride her bike to her horse pasture
and get that extra exercise.
- [Narrator] Jody's horse, Saudi, is located at the stables,
six and a half miles north of the family home.
Jody makes a stop at her friend's house, Linda Hook.
Linda's family is one of many
who are leaving Snohomish County
in search of better opportunities.
When Jody knocks on her door,
Linda is packing to go to California
and won't go horseback riding with Jody.
- The feeling that they could have been there
to prevent what happened to Jody
is a heavy emotion for a friend to carry.
Although it wasn't her fault,
those pervasive what if thoughts
can be difficult to silence.
- [Narrator] Kenda tells police
she remembers Jody taking a little extra pause
before continuing on her bike.
- It's unclear why she pauses.
Perhaps Jody sees something that makes her hesitate
or perhaps she's a couple of miles into a six-mile bike ride
and simply needs to catch her breath.
- [Narrator] Jody is found by Walter and Cathy at 5:30 pm
suffering from the gunshot that would ultimately kill her.
- Police determined that Jody was attacked
while riding her bike towards the stables
sometime between when she's seen at the fruit stand
and when she's discovered.
- I felt like she was so smart,
but I felt like she was quick to say, I don't like you.
Get outta here, you know?
And then that could have triggered something in the murder.
- [Narrator] With somewhat limited information to go on.
Snohomish investigators continue to push hard
to find who did this to Jody Loomis.
(suspenseful music)
Jody Loomis is riding her bike on the way to the stables
where her horse is boarded.
- Jody has been missing for several hours at this point,
so everyone in the house was under intense stress.
- Jody should have been home quite a while ago
and we haven't heard from her.
- [Narrator] Jody is found by Walter and Cathy at 5:30 pm.
- She'd been shot in the head.
She was only wearing panties, socks,
and the waffle stomper boots.
- Walter and Cathy are in a state of shock
at their discovery
and waste no time getting the young woman into their car.
- [Narrator] The couple rushed the woman to a hospital,
but she's declared dead on arrival.
Investigators talk to a 14-year-old young woman
who works at a fruit stand on her family's property,
which is along Jody's route to the stable.
Kenda Rice tells police
she remembers Jody on her bike that afternoon
appearing a bit hesitant or nervous.
Jody stops on her bike for a moment
as though she might be unsure where to go.
- Kenda tells police she remembers that pause
as being odd and memorable.
Police look into the possibility
that Jody might have felt she's being followed.
- The crime is shocking to everyone,
especially in such a quiet rural place.
The effects of distress on a community can be substantial
and would've caused deep trauma
on Jody's friends and family.
- When she's found, Jody is not clothed,
except her knee-high socks, her boots, and underwear.
She's clutching her bra and her clothing is beside her.
And autopsy reveals Jody has been raped.
- [Narrator] Ballistics indicate
that Jody is shot from above by a 22-caliber pistol.
- The bullet wound is located above Jody's right ear.
- It was surmised
that she was probably sitting on the ground
tying her left boot when she was shot in the head
by her assailant.
- [Narrator] Police scramble
to determine if this random act is premeditated
and whether Jody may have known her killer.
- In some cases, everyone becomes a suspect.
- [Narrator] Detectives consider
whether they might already have interviewed Jody's killer.
They look for connections to her rape and murder
that they may have missed.
Police questioned the man who brings Jody to the hospital,
Walter Morris.
They also questioned Jody's father, John.
- The added trauma of feeling suspected
of your own daughter's rape and murder is unimaginable.
- Police have to be thorough
and can't rule out anyone at this point,
including her own father.
- [Narrator] The police wonder if somebody
on the 1,000-acre farm property may have stumbled upon Jody
and acted in a crime of opportunity.
Investigators add to the list of suspects
13-year-old Alan Rice.
- Alan Rice is the son of the family
who owns the 1,000-acre farm
where the fruit stand is located.
He has been with his father all day
cutting wood in the nearby area.
- Mr. Rice was there with his son
cutting firewood in that area.
They were initially contacted and interviewed
and needed to be ruled out as possible suspects
as they were in the area.
- [Narrator] Alan tells police he was apart from his father
on various areas of the property,
cutting large amounts of firewood for the coming fall.
- The boy tells police that he passes by the area
where Jody is attacked several times
over the course of August 3rd.
If he saw or did something that day,
he's not admitting it to the police.
- [Narrator] Snohomish County sheriffs
fan out their investigation,
searching for answers everywhere,
including an area biker gang called the Reapers Roadmen.
- The Reapers Roadmen have a clubhouse
not far from the scene of Jody's murder.
One member of the gang named Yamaha
is known to possess a 22-caliber pistol.
- [Narrator] Local residents make police aware of Yamaha
using his weapon to fire at trains
as they pass through town.
(gun shooting)
It's enough of a connection to add Yamaha's name
to the list of possible suspects.
Inexplicably, much of the evidence,
including the panties
that could now yield so much DNA material,
has been lost.
- Years later when I looked at the case,
all of that evidence had disappeared.
We couldn't find her panties,
we couldn't find the swabs,
we couldn't find the slides
that they examined the spermatozoa on.
So all that evidence had just disappeared.
- [Narrator] Key pieces of evidence,
like the bullet retrieved from Jody and her socks,
are gone forever.
Documents are also lost over the years.
One piece of evidence that is still in police custody,
the boots that Jody wore that fateful day.
- All law enforcement has at this point
is circumstantial evidence.
They have pieces of information
that may suggest there is an opportunity
for the suspect to have been the killer,
but is there motive?
Is there concrete evidence?
They have nothing.
- [Narrator] Police wonder
if Jody Loomis knew her killer at all
or if it was just a random act.
Perhaps she pedaled right into a trap
laid out by a devious predator
lurking in the Washington woods.
- With only sparse information in this case,
there's no way to tell how Jody encountered her attacker.
It's going nowhere for police and the case is growing cold.
- Initially, the community is very alarmed
when they hear that something like this happened,
and that's why oftentimes now the police will say
that the community is not in danger
because this is an isolated incident
based on the circumstances involved
and people that knew each other.
But when you have a case like Jody Loomis
where she's killed by a stranger,
(gun shooting)
then the whole community gets alarmed.
They start locking their doors more
and being more careful than they used to.
Because back in 1972,
people left their doors open.
- [Narrator] The rape and murder of 20-year-old Jody Loomis
goes unsolved.
- This particular case was obviously done by a stranger.
When a stranger commits this kind of crime
and you run outta leads,
then you know you're at a point where,
is it even solvable anymore?
It's probably unsolvable.
- [Narrator] It would take decades for police
to realize the potential of a key piece of evidence,
an item that hadn't disappeared
and had been sitting in their possession all along,
waiting to unlock the case.
(suspenseful music)
20-year-old Jody Loomis gets on her bike
to make the six-mile trek to the stables
where her horse is boarded.
She would only get halfway through the forested area
before she's attacked.
A couple happens to discover Jody
and rush her to the hospital,
but it's too late.
- I was 12 years old when we lost Jody and my world changed.
I lost my closest friend that day.
- Police round up every suspect they can find,
but there's no evidence to point at any of them.
- [Narrator] Key pieces of evidence
are also lost over the years.
- We couldn't find her panties,
we couldn't find the swabs,
so all that evidence had just disappeared.
- [Narrator] One piece of evidence
that is still in police custody,
the boots that Jody wore that fateful day.
- With police unable to clear names for years,
Jody's parents and sister had to learn how to cope
with an overwhelming lack of closure.
It's hard to imagine being a 13 year old
who has to make sense of this,
never having the answers you crave.
- [Narrator] The case remains unsolved
and the file goes relatively unchanged
for more than 35 years.
(upbeat music)
In 2008, police breathe new life into the case
as Jody's murder is featured
in a deck of cold case playing cards
that Snohomish County police distribute to prison inmates.
- For years, the US military gave troops a deck
of most wanted enemy cards.
Around 2007 and 2008,
the idea took off across many states
to give prison inmates a deck of unsolved murder cards
to see if anyone had information.
- [Narrator] Jody's case is the oldest cold case
in this deck of cards.
- Something happens and then you're like,
oh, maybe that could make a difference.
And that's what 2008 brought for us,
there was some hope.
- [Narrator] Law enforcement hopes
to uncover new information behind bars.
For this particular case,
the playing cards come up empty.
That same year,
members of the Snohomish County Cold Case Unit send evidence
from Jody's murder to the state crime lab
for an examination.
- The evidence has been looked at by forensic scientists
a number of times over the years,
but this time a lab technician finds a key piece of evidence
that has been under their noses for 36 years.
- The crime lab discovers a small semen stain
on the waffle stomper boot.
- This becomes an important discovery in 2008
because of DNA technology
that is now available to law enforcement,
but it would've been meaningless to investigators in 1972.
Back then,
DNA analysis would've seemed like science fiction.
- They take a sample of the stain for DNA analysis.
They determine the DNA of the man's semen,
but also discovered DNA that matches Jody's DNA
mixed with a male's DNA.
This confirms that it is the DNA
of the man who had intercourse with Jody.
It's very likely the DNA of their killer.
- [Narrator] The DNA information breaks the case open.
- The men who were suspects in 1972 give DNA samples
to clear their names
through comparison with the semen found on Jody's boot.
At the same time, the DNA is sent to CODIS.
- [Narrator] CODIS, the Combined DNA Information System,
is a nationwide stockpile of DNA samples
taken from convicted felons, missing persons,
and crime scenes.
It is created and maintained by the FBI since 1998.
Alan Rice, now in his 50s, is cleared of any involvement.
So is Walter Morris,
who found Jody after the attack.
And the biker gang theory loses steam.
- Jody's father passes away in 2005
before DNA can point him to Jody's murderer.
- [Narrator] After a cross reference
with the millions of DNA samples in the CODIS database,
investigators come up empty.
- They can't find a DNA connection
with someone else in the data bank.
There's nowhere to go with the file
and it becomes a cold case.
- [Narrator] It would be another decade
before police finally linked their DNA evidence
with a suspect.
(suspenseful music)
A famous case involving a serial rapist
and killer in California
give Snohomish County police a new weapon in their arsenal.
- With the availability of DNA home kits
to establish genealogy and build family trees,
law enforcement sees an opportunity
to use genetic genealogy for criminal investigations.
You can find relatives of the criminal, partial matches,
which can lead to the DNA match.
- The Golden State Killer case in California
is the first example of genetic genealogy being used
to solve a murder.
- [Narrator] California law enforcement linked DNA
from a raped kid
to a close relative of Joseph James DeAngelo,
who is responsible for at least 13 murders, 50 rapes,
and 120 burglaries in the 1970s and '80s.
- Before DNA technology came along,
you needed a smoking gun, a fingerprint, or an eyewitness.
Now you can connect those dots on a molecular level
using genetic genealogy.
Even when a close family member
is found through this technique,
police still have to have a DNA match.
That means finding a sample from the accused
and matching it with existing DNA evidence.
- Despite law enforcement
and genetic experts finding a relative,
there would still be plenty
of follow-up investigating to do.
- You just had the Golden State Killer,
you just had some things breaking open,
and I felt like, wow, this is breaking ground.
Jody's case was so incredibly old.
What were the odds that we'd be able to find him?
- [Narrator] Could the DNA from Jody's boot lead them
to a family member of her killer?
(suspenseful music)
20-year-old Jody Loomis leaves home on her bike
one August morning in 1972,
never to return.
She would only get halfway through the forested area
before she's attacked.
- I lost my closest friend that day.
- After exhausting all leads in this case,
police run out of places to go.
The investigation goes cold for decades.
- [Narrator] Key pieces of evidence
are also lost over the years.
- We couldn't find her panties,
we couldn't find the swabs,
so all that evidence had just disappeared.
- [Narrator] That same year,
members of the Snohomish County Cold Case Unit send evidence
from Jody's murder to the state crime lab
for an examination.
- The evidence has been looked at by forensic scientists
a number of times over the years.
- This time they get a hit.
- [Narrator] 46 Years later,
Snohomish County cold case officers get a phone call
from the genetic genealogists.
Finally, after nearly 50 years,
police close in on a suspect.
The ancestry database links the DNA from Jody's boot
to the parents of six brothers,
but one brother in particular
immediately stands out for police,
Terrence Miller.
- It was really weird when we heard the name.
I thought for sure I was gonna recognize the name,
and it didn't mean anything to me at all.
- [Glen] Terrence Miller does not have a criminal record,
so he wouldn't be listed in CODIS.
- [Narrator] However,
he had a number of run-ins with the law,
and many of those incident reports
involved sexual impropriety,
but no charges were ever filed.
Police quickly gather information on Terrence Miller.
He was accused of sex crimes several times in his life,
some of those times with family members.
And he lived just five miles away from the wooded area
where Jody Loomis is found in 1972.
Police stake out Miller's home
where he and his wife of 43 years operate a ceramics shop.
- They're hoping he will leave a sample of his DNA behind,
so they can see if it's a match
with evidence they already have.
- [Narrator] August, 2018.
Police conduct surveillance on Terrence Miller,
hoping he will leave behind a piece of DNA
that will fully match the DNA from Jody's boot.
- Police are desperate to acquire DNA from this suspect,
hair, saliva, anything,
and he will not give it up willingly.
- He probably knows he's being followed
and they're after his DNA.
He's gotta be sweating over that.
He can't leave DNA evidence behind.
- [Narrator] For Jody Loomis's family,
time is of the essence.
- My mom got to know
that they were going to be making an arrest
and that it was close,
and the detective had that time with her
to let her know that he was working as fast as he could
and getting as much done.
- Her mom was disabled and bedridden.
I can recall going there and talking to them several times
prior to the point where we could get it solved.
It was important to let her know
that we were working on the case and it wasn't forgotten.
- [Narrator] Sadly,
Rosemary Loomis would pass away in January, 2019
at the age of 91.
- I felt really bad that we weren't able to go and tell her,
hey, he's behind bars.
Jana had told her mom that it's getting close,
so her mom, I think, was at peace when she died.
- We didn't make it to the arrest with my mom,
but it was enough for her to know
that they were narrowing it in and that it would be made.
- [Narrator] It won't be
until Terrence visits a local casino
that he slips up and leaves them a sample
of biological material.
- You want to get your best DNA evidence
from something that has saliva on it
'cause there's a lot of good DNA in saliva.
- All scientists need is less than a gram
of genetic material.
We're talking a number of cells,
and it can be from dead skin, dried saliva,
or anything from a person's body.
The dried saliva from a coffee cup can be used
to identify the person who's been drinking from it.
- [Narrator] Now that they have a DNA sample
from Terrence Miller,
they send it back to the lab for analysis
to ensure it matches the DNA extracted from the boot
and to answer the question,
is Terrence Miller Jody Loomis's killer?
As police await results of the DNA analysis,
they continue their investigation
with a visit by undercover detectives
to the Miller residence.
Inside the ceramics shop,
there are stacks of newspapers used to wrap items.
A number of newspapers contained stories
about violent crimes,
specifically about DNA evidence and cold cases.
But one newspaper laying out on the table
gets the attention of law enforcement.
- It's a newspaper from seven months earlier
with a headline about a previous arrest made
using genetic genealogy.
- [Narrator] Using genetic genealogy,
Snohomish County sheriffs arrest William Talbott
for the unsolved 1987 rape and double murder
of a young Canadian couple,
Tanya Van Cuylenburg and Jay Cook.
- In the 1987 case,
Tanya is shot in the head after being raped.
Police use DNA from a semen stain
and match it to DNA discarded by Talbott
more than 30 years later.
- We had undercover detectives go into his wife's business
to try to see what they could learn
that could connect him to Jody's crime
and they found that newspaper sitting out on a table
in her ceramic business.
He held onto that for seven months,
knowing that we had the tools that could catch him.
- The Golden State Killer pleads guilty,
so a court has never tried and convicted
using evidence from genetic genealogy.
Prosecutors are in uncharted territory with this case.
- [Narrator] With the saliva DNA on the coffee cup,
matching the DNA on the boot,
detective Sharp is confident
that Terrence Miller is the killer.
In April,
a judge issues a warrant for the arrest of Terrence Miller.
Now 77 years old,
he's charged with first-degree murder.
- After I arrested him,
I found out that he had been on a bowling league
with my brother for six or seven years.
So it finally hit home
that here I had been on Washington's most wanted,
telling Terry Miller that I had his DNA
and I'm coming after him.
And he's going to bowling every Monday night
looking at my brother's face that looks similar to mine,
knowing that that guy's brother is after me.
I hope he lost a lot of sleep over that.
- Rosemary Loomis dies just three months
before Miller is arrested.
Terrence Miller tells police he didn't know Jody Loomis.
- Innocent until proven guilty.
This case is 47 years old.
The accused denies everything
and prosecutors are using unprecedented technology.
This case is far from over.
- [Narrator] And a disturbing event during the trial
will send shockwaves through everyone involved.
(suspenseful music)
Using DNA from a discarded coffee cup,
Snohomish County sheriffs believe
they have the man responsible
for the rape and murder of Jody Loomis,
47 years earlier.
(gun shooting)
They matched the DNA
with a semen stain found on the boot
Jody was wearing the day she was killed in 1972.
Terrence Miller's wife of 43 years looks on
as her husband is charged with first-degree murder.
He's free on a million-dollar bond.
- At this point,
Terrence Miller is 77 years old
and not considered a flight risk,
especially not with the bail set so high.
- By the time the case against Terrence Miller
goes to trial,
William Talbott is found guilty of murder
and a precedent is set.
That's hopeful news for prosecutors,
but the burden on the prosecution is still huge.
There's a mountain to climb here.
- [Narrator] While the prosecution
brings forward its evidence,
the defense points out that the burden of proof
is on prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that Terrence Miller is guilty.
The defense questions the integrity of the entire case,
suggesting that there's not enough
to convict Terrence Miller of the crime.
- The job of the defense attorney
is to poke holes in the prosecution's case.
With key pieces of evidence missing,
be it from willful destruction of the evidence
or things being lost as they're rearranged,
these are holes in the case the prosecution must overcome
to get a guilty verdict.
The prosecution basically tells the jury
that science doesn't lie.
They show the DNA evidence from the boot to the coffee cup
and how they made the match,
and then let the jury decide.
- [Narrator] November, 2020.
Both sides complete their closing arguments
and the jury deliberates.
But Terrence Miller takes justice into his own hands
just hours before the jury is expected to come back
with its verdict.
- The trial ended on a Friday
and the jury went out to deliberate.
I think he saw the handwriting on the wall
that Monday he was gonna be found guilty.
So that Monday morning before he came to court,
he went into the backyard
and somewhere he'd gotten a 22 revolver
and shot himself in the head
(gun shooting)
instead of coming to court to be found guilty.
- We were getting ready to go in the courtroom
and one of the detectives walked in
and had this funny look on her face and she said,
"I've got some news to tell you.
And Terry Miller won't be there,
he just took his life this morning."
- Immediately law enforcement wonder,
could this 22-caliber pistol be the murder weapon
used way back in 1972?
It's a gun that Miller owns,
but in order to know,
you have to examine the bullet removed from Jody's head
and that bullet has been lost.
- The jury is already deliberating
at the time of Terrence Miller's suicide.
So in an unusual move,
the judge decides to allow them to come to a verdict
without telling them that the accused is already dead.
- [Narrator] Unaware that Terrence Miller is dead,
the jury comes back with a verdict the very next day.
They find him guilty of first-degree murder.
- They let the jury,
without knowing that he'd murdered himself,
let them make the decision,
and he was found guilty.
At least our family was able to hear that.
I'm glad that the jury was able to make their decision.
- Getting a conviction using genetic genealogy
is still a new technique,
but becoming more wildly accepted in courts.
There are now dozens of cases being prosecuted
using this approach.
- Using genetic genealogy to locate a suspect
and then confirming it
with two DNA samples taken nearly a half a century apart
is a huge step for investigators.
It shows there is no time limit on justice.
- [Narrator] Genetic genealogy,
it's another tool in the arsenal for investigators.
For the family of Jody Loomis,
it brings a piece of closure on a tragedy
that left a 50-year scar.
- The one thing that Jody would want
is to give other cold case families hope.
I think that would be Jody's biggest drive.
- The only way I think you can have closure
is if you could bring Jody Loomis back
and give her back to her family.
All you can do as an investigator is do your best
to find out the truth,
to hold the person responsible for the crime,
and to allow the family to have some answers.
We do this work to give the family some answers
and peace of mind
'cause I don't think you can ever really give 'em closure.
- [Narrator] With the DNA on the boot that Jody was wearing
when she was found
and the DNA on the coffee cup
that Miller casually tossed out,
the rape and murder of Jody Loomis is finally solved.
- Seeing that boot again,
it was like, okay, yeah,
it doesn't look quite, you know what?
It aged a lot.
To see it again and to hold that boot
and to know that so many things in Jody's case,
so many things have been lost along the way.
This person's no longer alive.
And then all of a sudden, the boot is what saved the day.
(suspenseful music)