SPOKANE, Wash – DNA finally caught up to a suspected killer, solving a Spokane murder 28 years later.
Spokane Police announced Wednesday they’ve identified the man who killed Margaret Anselmo in 1987.
Anselmo was found in an alley on East Pacific on January 3, 1997.
She was beaten and sexually assaulted.
Investigators hung onto evidence in the case and recently, the Othram lab in Texas developed a profile of the killer.
A local genealogist named Lynda Keenan volunteers her time with Spokane Police and she found relatives of the suspect.
Police say that led them to Brian J. Anderson of Pend Oreille County who is deceased.
“Family members provided DNA and family context,” police said in a news release. “They expressed concern for the plight of Anselmo’s surviving family and a desire to help. Othram performed kinship analysis of their DNA as well, finding that one family member was the child of the suspect and another the half-brother. The only person that can meet both these criteria is Brian J. Anderson.”
“If he were alive today, the Spokane Police Department would seek 1st Degree Murder and 1st Degree Rape charges against Anderson,” Spokane Police said.
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