Crime & Safety
Hockey Game Napkin Was Used To Solve Minneapolis Cold Case: Police
The woman's family "had to live without justice for her brutal murder for nearly three decades," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said.
MINNEAPOLIS — A 56-year-old Isanti man was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree intentional murder for the killing of a woman in Minneapolis nearly 30 years ago.
Jerry Westrom killed 35-year-old Jeanie Childs in 1993, according to police. DNA found from a napkin Westrom used at a hockey game was used to solve the case, authorities said.
"My condolences go out to the victim and her family," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Thursday. "They have had to live without justice for her brutal murder for nearly three decades. I hope this brings some closure to them."
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According to the criminal complaint, on June 13, 1993, a tenant living on the 3100 block of Pillsbury Avenue South reported to building management that water was coming into her apartment.
The water was coming from a nearby unit where Childs often stayed, police said. In that apartment, water that was overflowing from an unoccupied, running shower.
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There was also blood throughout the bathroom and in the bedroom, where Childs’ body was found, the criminal complaint states. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that she was stabbed to death.
During the invesigation, authorities found that Childs used the apartment for "prostitution service," according to the attorney's office.
Items from the apartment were collected and eventually tested for DNA, and an unknown DNA profile was detected, authorities said.
In 2018, police hired a genealogist who found that Westrom shared familial traits to the DNA profile from the crime scenem according to the criminal complaint.
In 2019, officers followed Westrom and — at a hockey game — watched him use a napkin to wipe his mouth and then toss it in the trash, investigators said.
Police retrieved the napkin and were able to obtain a DNA sample from it which linked to DNA profiles at the crime scene.
Westrom’s footprints were also linked to the bloody footprints found at the scene of Childs' killing, police said.
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