DNA, genealogy website lead to arrest in 26-year-old Texas murder case

DNA technology and a genealogy website has led law enforcement to make an arrest in a decades-old murder cold case in Texas, potentially solving the mystery behind a teacher’s shocking assault and death in 1995.

Beaumont, Texas, teacher Mary Catherine Edwards was found sexually assaulted and drowned in her bathtub that year. A suspect has eluded police in the decades that have followed.

The Beaumont Enterprise reported this week that law enforcement utilized DNA obtained from the crime scene last year to draw up a family tree of the suspect via the website GEDMatch.

Left with two possibilities – the suspect and his brother – police determined the suspect was the possible killer due to his criminal history. 

Efforts to renew the case began back in 2014 at the urgings of a district attorney, who said he "really wanted to find a way to solve that case," the Enterprise reported.