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Detectives Just Used DNA To Solve A 1956 Double Homicide. They May Have Made History

June 12, 2021 8:00 AM ET
SHARON PRUITT-YOUNG

It was only three days into the year 1956 when three boys from Montana, out for a hike on a normal January day, made a gruesome discovery they were unlikely to ever forget.

During a walk near the Sun River, they found 18-year-old Lloyd Duane Bogle, dead from a gunshot wound to the head. They found him on the ground near his car, and someone had used his belt to tie his hands behind his back, according to a report from the Great Falls Tribune. The next day brought another disturbing discovery: a county road worker found 16-year-old Patricia Kalitzke's body in an area north of Great Falls, the paper reports. She'd been shot in the head, just as Bogle had been, but she'd also been sexually assaulted.

Their killings went unsolved until this week when investigators announced they had cracked what is believed to be the oldest case solved with DNA and forensic genealogy.

The victims were discovered in lover's lane.

Bogle, an airman hailing from Texas, and Kalitzke, a junior at Great Falls High School, had fallen for each other and were even considering marriage, the Tribune reports. The place where they were believed to have been killed was a known "lover's lane," according to a clipping from a local newspaper posted on a memorial page.

But their love story was brutally cut short by the actions of a killer whose identity would not be revealed for more than 60 years. And it was not for lack of trying: early on in the case, investigators followed numerous leads, but none of them panned out. The case eventually went cold.

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The Kalitzke/Bogle case is one of the oldest criminal cases that has been solved using forensic genealogy, and authorities are hopeful that they'll be able to use this ever-advancing technology to solve cold cases dating back even further — although new state legislation restricting forensic genealogy could complicate matters.

Even without that complication, Singer explained to NPR, the success rate depends heavily on how well the evidence has been preserved over the years. Still, he hopes that it can be used to help law enforcement improve public safety and "[prevent] tomorrow's victim." ... "It's really fantastic technology and it's going to solve a lot of cold cases," Singer said.

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