(CNN) — Nearly 50 years after a woman’s body was found in a Colorado field, her killer has finally been identified, police announced Wednesday.
Teri Baker was last seen on Dec. 4, 1975, in Westminster, Colorado, police said in a statement. Apparently, the 20-year-old was hitchhiking to see her boyfriend at the Adams County Jail in Brighton, Colorado. Two days later, a couple found his body and his personal belongings in a field.
An autopsy found she had been raped and the cause of death was suffocation, according to the statement. Baker’s killer was never found. Over the years, his case was reviewed several times, with no progress.
The situation changed with the advancement of forensic science. In 2003, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was able to extract the DNA of an unidentified male from evidence collected in connection with Baker’s rape, according to police. The man’s profile was entered into a DNA database, but there was no match.
However, 10 years later, the DNA profile matched one sent by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as they reviewed another cold case. That case dates back to 1991 and concerned a woman who was found raped and murdered in her apartment.
DNA revealed the same man killed both Teri Baker and the Las Vegas woman, according to police, but they still have no suspects in either case.
That changed last year.
After five years of using genetic genealogy, which combines DNA testing with traditional genealogical methods to identify people or trace their ancestry, the Colorado Bureau of Research, in collaboration with a genetic DNA laboratory and a genealogy company, succeeded in identifying the suspect. Westminster Police.
In October, Las Vegas police exhumed the body of Thomas Martin Elliott as a possible suspect in both murders. A Westminster police detective witnessed the excavation and the bones were sent for analysis.
Nearly half a century later, police late last year identified Elliott as the unknown man who killed both Baker and the Las Vegas woman.
Authorities discovered that Elliott had been in and out of prison over the years for various crimes, including robbery and crimes against minors. He committed suicide for unknown reasons in 1991, shortly after the Las Vegas massacre.
Westminster police said they hope to finally find Baker’s killer and bring closure to his family and friends.
According to a police statement, Baker grew up in Wyoming and moved to the Denver metro area after graduating high school. He says her family described her as a “free spirit” who would “keep up a conversation with anyone.”
