<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2ORXIf_1GoLfYyy00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ORXIf_1GoLfYyy00" width="1200" height="600" >MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Thousands of unsolved homicides across Arizona remain open, leaving families searching for answers decades later. Now, an emerging forensic tool could help change that, beginning with a Mesa cold case that has gone unsolved for nearly 40 years.When investigators collect DNA, cotton swabs are typically used across a surface. But when evidence involves porous items such as clothing or bedsheets, traditional swabbing can fail to retrieve cells trapped deep inside the fabric.Mesa police detectives are now utilizing a wet-vacuum collection tool known as the M-Vac to gather DNA from physical evidence in the 1988 murder of 26-year-old Loretta Lynn.<h2>The 1988 homicide</h2>On June 14, 1988, an intruder attacked Lynn inside her Mesa home. Police said someone pried open the front door and stabbed her multiple times.Lynn was three months pregnant at the time of the attack. Her 7-month-old baby was in a neighboring room and was left unharmed.Her husband returned home from work and found her body tangled in bedsheets, fully clothed. Evidence from the scene, including defensive wounds, indicated Lynn fought back against her attacker.“Usually with that type of force, someone will cut themselves and they’ll leave their own DNA,” said Tom McKnight, a cold case investigator with the Mesa Police Department.<h2>Searching for a full profile</h2>McKnight said his team previously obtained a partial DNA profile from the scene pointing to the candidate surnames Dooley or Hayes. However, investigators need a more complete genetic profile to conduct investigative genetic genealogy and build a family tree.Detectives hope the M-Vac will extract the necessary biological material from the bedding.The machine sprays a sterile solution onto evidence to loosen cellular material before vacuum suction collects the liquid into a specialized filter. Jared Bradley, president and CEO of M-Vac Systems, said the device creates a mini hurricane on porous surfaces to release deeply embedded skin cells that surface swabbing misses.“There’s a number of cases that I’ve worked on using the M-Vac that I strongly believe would not have yielded the same results or ended up helping to resolve the case if we didn’t use the M-Vac,” said Suzanna Ryan, a forensic DNA expert and lab director with Borealis Forensics.<h2>First agency in Arizona to acquire system</h2>Detective McKnight spent months working with state crime lab officials to approve testing on Lynn’s evidence.Mesa police recently purchased their own M-Vac machine, making the department the first law enforcement agency in Arizona to own one.While the department works to get its in-house system fully certified, sending Lynn’s evidence to an accredited private laboratory costs between $5,000 and $7,000 and takes four to eight weeks to process. Mesa Police are currently working to secure funding for that outside testing.Lynn’s cousin, Karen Dana, recently set out an empty chair at the Arizona State Capitol as part of the Empty Chair Project, an effort designed to bring direct attention to lawmakers and public officials to secure funding and resources to solve cold cases.“From the day I saw what M-Vac was, I was like: That’s going to solve the case. That’s going to do it,” Dana said. “Loretta’s changing Arizona. Loretta, because of her and her case, it’s changing that. We’re using the M-Vac now.”<h2>How to submit tips</h2>Anyone with information regarding the 1988 murder of Loretta Lynn is urged to contact the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377), or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish. Tips can also be submitted online at silentwitness.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.</div></body>

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MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Thousands of unsolved homicides across Arizona remain open, leaving families searching for answers decades later. Now, an emerging forensic tool could help change that, beginning with a Mesa cold case that has gone unsolved for nearly 40 years. When investigators collect DNA, cotton swabs are...

Emerging DNA technology could help solve 1988 Mesa cold case murder

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MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Thousands of unsolved homicides across Arizona remain open, leaving families searching for answers decades later. Now, an emerging fo

Emerging DNA technology could help solve 1988 Mesa cold case murder

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