DNA genetics identify Oklahoma murder victim 27 years later

CNHI News Service Mar 16, 2022

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Forensic experts using genetic genealogy helped Oklahoma authorities recently identify the dismembered body of a murdered young woman discovered buried 60 miles southwest of Oklahoma City 27 years ago.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation on March 11 identified the victim as 20-year-old Katrina Kay (Burton) Bentivegna, whose headless body and severed hands and feet were unearthed in rural Caddo County on April 24, 1995, near historic U.S. Route 66 and State Highway 281. ... The following year, investigators found a skull that they confirmed through DNA comparison belonged to the body.

Federal, state and county authorities checked out numerous tips and leads in an effort to find the victim’s name, a vital fact in murder investigations, said OSBI Director Ricky Adams. Pursuit of the killer or killers failed to turn up suspects or motives.

A breakthrough in the cold case occurred in 2021 when the OSBI Forensic Science Center submitted DNA samples from the victim to Reston, Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs for phenotyping, a forensic process that detects the hereditary makeup of DNA organisms. After five months of testing, the lab provided results of possible genetic matches to the OSBI in August of 2021.

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