Suzanne Bombardier's murder investigation, a 1980 cold case in Antioch, California, moved forward with the arrest of a suspect Monday after nearly four decades, thanks to the help of advances in DNA testing.
Antioch police confirmed the arrest of 63-year-old Mitchell Lynn Bacom, who faces charges of raping, kidnaping and murdering the 14-year-old girl in 1980.
Bombardier was babysitting at her sister's house the night she was taken, and her body was found in the San Joaquin River near the Antioch Bridge five days after she was reported missing, police said.
Her cause of death was determined to be from a stab wound to the chest that had pierced her heart and police found evidence that indicated she had been sexually assaulted.
Numerous suspects and persons of interest were developed and investigated over the years but the case eventually ran cold.
It was reopened in 2015, after two retired detectives assigned to the case in 1980 met with Bombardier's niece and a former friend, The San Francisco Chronicle noted.
Former Antioch police detective Ron Rackley, who filed the missing person's report, and Antioch police Detective Gregory Glod stayed in contact over the years and would periodically touch base and compare notes, The East Bay Times said.
They pushed for the cold case to be re-opened and through advanced DNA analyses of samples extracted at the scene, police were eventually able to trace Bacom and tie him to the murder.
"When the biological evidence was collected in this case, DNA testing did not exist as a method of determining guilt in our justice system," Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks said, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Bacom is a registered sex offender with a history of violence and multiple arrests to his name.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Suzanne Bombardier's family and we hope this development offers some level of comfort to them," said Antioch Police Chief Tammany Brooks, according to ABC News.
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