An Illinois cold case is solved nearly 50 years later

(CNN) — Nearly 50 years after the cold case murder of a 19-year-old who went missing from her Illinois village, authorities have identified her killer through new DNA evidence.

In March of 1979, Kathy Halle disappeared while heading to pick up her sister from a nearby shopping center in North Aurora, according to local authorities.

Police initially investigated the case as a missing person, but three weeks later, Halle’s body was discovered in the Foxe River, Ryan Peat, a detective with the North Aurora Police Department, said during a news conference Wednesday.

After years of investigations, authorities determined there was not enough evidence to identify a suspect and the case went cold.

It was not until 2020 that authorities revisited the case after linking DNA from Bruce Lindhal, a suspected serial killer who killed himself in 1981, to the murder of another woman named Pamela Maurer, Peat said.

New forensic technologies

North Aurora authorities used new forensic technologies to connect DNA evidence found on Halle’s clothing to Lindhal’s DNA collected while solving Maurer’s case.

“Lindhal has been connected to several other cases in this area from that timeframe,” Peat said. “With this new evidence, along with the evidence from similar cases involving Lindhal, we are able to conclude Lindhal was responsible for death of Kathy Halle.”

Authorities now believe Lindhal, who would often go to the shopping center where Halle worked, abducted the victim from the parking lot of her apartment complex and drove her to the area where her body was later discovered.  

“While revisiting this case has been incredibly difficult, we are deeply grateful to finally have closure after 45 long years,” a statement from Halle’s family read during the news conference said. “Thanks to advancements in DNA technologies and groundbreaking tools, we are hopeful that other families won’t have to endure the same pain and uncertainty that we faced for so many years.”