Minnesota man charged in 1972 murder of 15-year-old Naperville girl

Susan Sarkauskas

Updated
6/4/2021 7:28 PM

Nearly 49 years after Julie Ann Hanson was found stabbed to death in a cornfield, a Minnesota man has been charged with murdering the 15-year-old Naperville girl. ... Barry Lee Whelpley, 76, of Mounds View, has been charged by the Will County state's attorney's office with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with Julie's death and is being held on $10 million bail in a Minnesota county jail pending extradition to Illinois, authorities said at a Friday news conference. Whelpley was arrested Wednesday afternoon at his home.

Whelpley, who was 27 at the time of Julie's murder, used to live on the 600 block of Wehrli Road in Naperville, within a mile of the Hanson residence, authorities said.

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Julie was a high school student when she disappeared on July 7, 1972. She was seen that night riding a bicycle to her brother's baseball game, according to previous news reports. ... The next afternoon, her older sister reported that Julie was missing; the Hansons' parents were not home at the time of her disappearance. Julie's body was discovered later that day in a cornfield in Naperville near 87th Street and Modaff Road, a little more than two miles from her home. ...She was abducted, raped and stabbed 36 times.

No suspect was immediately identified, and Naperville police detectives continued to investigate the murder over the last 49 years. Authorities said the breakthrough in the case came through technological advancements in DNA and genetic genealogy analysis. They declined to provide specifics, including what databases were used. They used the services of Identifinders International LLC, a California firm that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy investigations.

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Anyone with information regarding the investigation is encouraged to call the Naperville Police Department at (630) 420-6665 and ask for the Investigations Division.