A drop of blood that was subjected to modern DNA testing enabled Vermont State Police detectives to make an arrest in the 1989 murder of a Danby couple found stabbed to death in their home, police said.
Michael Anthony Louise, 79, was arrested Thursday in Syracuse, New York, on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of George Peacock, 76, and Catherine Peacock, 73, police announced in a news release.
The Peacocks were found dead on Sept. 17, 1989. There were no signs of forced entry or items of significance having been removed from the house.
Louise, who was married to one of the Peacocks’ daughters, was identified as a suspect about two weeks later. Investigators at the time developed circumstantial evidence tying Louise to the killings, police said.
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Detectives were unable to establish a conclusive link until forensic testing in May 2020 confirmed a DNA match to George Peacock in a spot of blood found inside Louise’s car in October 1989.
The blood sample had been tested previously, but earlier tests were inconclusive.
Authorities did not say why it took two years to make the arrest following the DNA match, but said more information would be released when Louise is arraigned.
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It could not immediately be determined if Louise has an attorney. It's unclear when he will be returned to Vermont to face charges.
Advancements in DNA testing have been used to help law enforcement solve a slew of cold cases. Last month, a Missouri inmate serving a life sentence for killing a man was linked to the deaths of four women who vanished in 1990 and 1991 after crime lab technicians found DNA from a small amount of viable evidence that had been collected.
The suspect, Gary Muehlberg, 73, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection to the deaths of Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Donna Reitmeyer and Sandra Little.
According to NBC News, authorities were also able to crack the 1988 strangulation death of a mother in Pennsylvania after breakthrough genetic genealogy technology linked DNA from the victim's clothing to a saliva-sealed anonymous letter that was written to a local newspaper about two years after the killing.
The DNA matched a man named Scott Grim, however, he died in 2018 of natural causes at age 58.
