44-year-old rape case resolved due to advances in DNA technology

A 44-year-old rape case has been resolved this week after advances in DNA technology in California.

Janet Stallcup was a nursing student who was last seen leaving her apartment in her 1962 Ford Falcon.

She was on her way to friend’s party in nearby Santa Ana on December 19, 1976.

However, Stallcup was found dead in the front seat of her car, which was parked at a Garden Grove apartment complex, after eight days.

A man named Terry Dean Hawkins was named as the suspect in the murder of Janet Stallcup by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in California.

Just after a year, Terry Dean died while being in the jail which made the investigation difficult to find who actually raped and murdered Stallcup or is it really Terry Dean.

Also, the DNA was isolated by the county’s crime lab in 2002 from swabs taken from the crime scene.

According to Stallcup’s sister, Lee Neil, despite multiple leads, no links were discovered until this week.

‘I’ve seen the detective’s file on the case, and it’s got to be at least three inches thick,we’ve been through three generations of detectives on this investigation.’ said Lee.

However, last year, the Orange County District Attorney’s detectives commenced a genetic investigation again and used the DNA of relatives of the suspect and compared it to DNA samples seized from the crime scene.

During last week, the investigation reached out to the conclusion as the both the DNA got matched and Terry was declared the culprit.