An 18-year-old Hornell woman has been identified as the victim of a decades old, now-resolved cold case in Florida.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (in Florida) said the body of an unidentified woman discovered on February 15th, 1991 off of US Route 1 was a Hornell resident, identified as Wanda Deann Kirkum.
She was 18-years-old at the time, and the case was known as the ‘Valentine Jane Doe Homicide’. They followed countless leads, but that case remained unsolved for nearly three decades.
New DNA technology allowed for a suspect to be identified.
Investigators say her killer was identified as Robert Lynn Bradley, who was murdered in Texas a year later.
Police say the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit used the new DNA technology to identify both the victim and the suspect. Bradley’s DNA was obtained from the scene of Kirkum’s murder in the Florida Keys.
“I would like to personally thank Major Crimes Unit Detective Vince Weiner and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their efforts in solving this very serious and tragic crime,” said Sheriff Rick Ramsay. “This case is a testament and shining example of this agency’s commitment to solving crime, no matter how old the case and no matter the challenges.”
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