Solved: Police identify the murderer in a 34-year-old cold case using DNA evidence

The family of a 1988 murder victim may now have a modicum of closure after DNA evidence in the 34-year-old case revealed the identity of the killer.

The case at hand is the horrifying murder of 26-year-old Pennsylvania resident Anna Kane, who was strangled to death with a rope, with her body left to rot in a wooded area close to Hamburg in October 1988.

Her body was found on Oct. 23, 1988, along Ontelaunee Trail in Perry Township.

Thanks to cutting-edge DNA genetic genealogy research, her killer has been identified as Scott Grim, Pennsylvania State Police and Berks County District Attorney John Adams announced at a news conference.

In 1990, the Reading Eagle article newspaper published a story about the Pennsylvania woman asking the public for information. This piece indirectly resulted in the killer being found 30 years later.

After the murder, Kane's clothing was used to collect DNA evidence. When this evidence was processed, a male DNA profile that could not be identified was produced, but no match was found.

A "concerned citizen" wrote the Eagle a letter a few days after it was published. It contained "intricate" details regarding Kane's murder that only her perpetrator could be aware of. Detectives were unsure as to who wrote the letter but were certain that the author was Kane's killer.

The killer licked the envelope, and the DNA evidence from that assisted in identifying him.

According to a recent article in the Eagle, the murderer Grimm passed away at the age of 58 from natural causes in 2018.

On Thursday, as per NBC News, at the news conference, state police commended the detectives who looked into Kane's murder in 1988, stating that they kept up a "solid foundation" of physical evidence that was crucial to identifying Grimm.

Sergeant Nathan Trate said, "It was preserved as it should be, because they knew probably somewhere down the line what they collected could be that little piece of evidence of what they needed."

Well, it's the year 2022, and the tiniest piece of information they gathered was just what we needed to crack this case.

Capt. Robert Bailey of the local unit of the Pennsylvania State Police said that every victim deserves closure regardless of their background.