DNA tests have revealed the culprit of Kristina Wesselman's 1985 rape and murder is a repeat offender.
Michael Jones, 62, is being held without bond for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Wesselman after she was abducted while on her way home from the grocery store on July 21, 1985 in Illinois, according to ABC Chicago.
"She had been sexually assaulted and had been stabbed eight times," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.
A rape kit was used during her autopsy, and semen found in her body led to a DNA profile of her attacker. According to Berlin, that DNA was entered into the national database in 2000, but it was until 15 years later that the stored DNA would come into play.
In July 2015, Jones was charged with aggravated domestic battery. Since 2002 it became mandatory for those convicted of a felony in Illinois to provide a DNA sample, and as it turns out, that sample matched the one taken from the semen more than a decade ago, according to the Darien Patch.
"Recently, on September 10, 2015, investigators from the sheriff's office were informed there was a hit between that DNA profile from the victim and an offender in the database and that offender was Michael Jones," Berlin said.
Upon making the discovery, authorities arrested Jones at his home in Champaign, Ill. Friday, where Jones denied any wrongdoing saying: "As God as my witness, I've never seen her before," when shown Wesselman's photograph.
Two years prior to Wesselman's murder, Jones was out on parole on a 1977 sexual assault case in Cook County. In the case, Jones crashed his car into a woman riding a bicycle and took her to his parents' house where he repeatedly raped her, reported NBC News. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 to 20 years, but was paroled in 1983.
"I'd like to thank law enforcement for their tireless efforts. We've been waiting for a very long time to have any suspect," Kristina's brother, Bill Wesselman said.
Jones faces life in prison if convicted.
