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WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.
Jay Cook & Tanya van Cuylenborg were a young Canadian couple from Saanich, British Columbia, who were both murdered on November 18, 1987 while on a trip to Seattle, Washington. This site along Parson Creek Road north of Sedro-Woolley, Washington is the approximate location of where the body of Tanya was found six days later, where she had been sexually assaulted & killed from a single bullet wound. Initially her boyfriend Jay was a suspect until his body was located on November 26 nearly 60 miles to the south where he had been strangled & beaten.
The perpetrator left gloves at one of the crime scenes as a taunting message to police that fingerprints would not be available. He did however leave his DNA which was still in its early innovations of forensic investigations (& later reveal his identity).
For nearly 31 years the case remained cold & forgotten until a new concept known as genetic geneology opened up a milestone for forensic criminal investigators. A second cousin of the killer named Chelsea Rustad had similar matching DNA & a family tree was constructed, ultimately narrowing down to a 55 year old truck driver named William Earl Talbott II who lived in close proximity. Police followed his movements & tested a paper cup he had discarded one day, finding his DNA was a perfect match, leading to his immediate arrest in May 2018 where he currently is serving two life sentences for the murders (though he insists he is innocent).
This case broke ground on two fronts: It was the first to be tried in a court using genetic genealogy & it was also the first of such cases to result in a conviction. Both families of the victims have also been relieved an answer to the pain has been found, despite reopening the pains of the past. Genetic genealogy has now been the new forefront in solving many old cases & unidentified missing persons & can likely solve any crime should the perpetrator leave any DNA behind.
Update: In early December 2021 the verdict was abruptly overturned on the grounds of juror bias. We shall see how this unfolds & whether there will be a retrial.
More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Jay_Cook_and_Tanya_Van_Cuylenborg
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
