Local genealogist helps Spokane Police solve decades old cold case

SPOKANE, Wash. – Investigative Genetic Genealogy recently helped Spokane Police identify the murderer in a nearly 30-year-old cold case.All that time, Margaret Anselmo’s family had no answers for her death in January of 1997, until DNA and SPD’s new secret weapon, a local genealogist, finally brought them some much needed closure. Anselmo’s unsolved murder was one of several cases that weighed heavily on Sgt. Zac Storment for a long time.”I want to say it’s a relief, but at the same time, it’s a reminder of we have so many cases like this,” said Sgt. Storment. The man who murdered Anselmo may never have been identified if it weren’t for Lynda Keenan, a certified genetic genealogist with a passion for solving mysteries.”The scientist in me, because I’m a biologist also, and I’m also a certified genetic genealogist. So, it all kind of comes together. Oh, yeah. My brain’s always thinking.”Keenan volunteered to help SPD with a case and Sgt. Storment was thrilled to tap into her expertise.”I can’t do what she does. I’d have to spend years getting to her level,” he admitted. “So someone like Lynda coming along and offering her services the way she did was just too good to be true.”After submitting DNA from the crime scene to Othram, a forensic genetic genealogy company in Texas, Sgt. Storment gave Keenan a profile of DNA matches. But Keenan didn’t want to know anything about the actual case.”I didn’t want to feel personal,” she explained. “I had a job to do and I wanted to do that. And I didn’t want anything getting mixed up in it.” It’s a complex process, but using the DNA profile and different genealogy sites, it didn’t take long for Keenan to zero in on Anselmo’s killer.”I felt I knew who the person was within months, like six weeks,” she said. “And then, it was just a matter of putting all the pieces in the pie.”Still, the killer had multiple half siblings, which complicated the case. But Keenan kept digging, buildling the DNA tree back, then out, then back down again, before she could finally be certain who the killer was.”Once I found this match and I could run the tree down to the lead and I could run this one down to his mother’s,” Keenan explained. With that, and the help of the killer’s family, SPD announced in November that it had identified Brian Anderson as Anselmo’s killer. Anderson was 20 years old at the time and died by suicide in 2009. But finally knowing who killed her was a massive weight off the shoulders of Anselmo’s family members and Sgt. Storment.”I know for him, this was a big help for him and a relief. So I was glad to do it and real happy, so we can put that one to rest,” said Keenan.Sgt. Storment calls Keenan irreplaceable. He doesn’t think the City of Spokane can afford a full-time genealogist like her, but he hopes a law enforcement agency or genealogy lab will put her passion to work.”Lynda is going to be able to help a lot of agencies out there if they’ll take her up on her, on her skills. I hope somebody does,” he said.And Keenan, who teaches a free class on genealogy through the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, is very much looking forward to the opportunities solving this cold case could provide.”There’s thousands of cold cases. Thousands,” said Keenan. When asked if these types of cases will keep her busy for a while, she responded, “I’m hoping. That’s what I’m hoping.”