Police in Calgary are crediting advances in forensics for identifying and arresting a suspect in a cold case.
Tara-Anne Landgraf was 37 when her body was discovered by a passerby in August 2007.
An autopsy determined Landgraf died from stab wounds, and police say she was also sexually assaulted in what appeared to be a random attack.
A male DNA profile was identified from forensic evidence collected at the time, but didn’t match anything in the National DNA Data Bank or the Crime Scenes Index.
Investigators took a fresh look at the case in 2019 and worked with forensic specialists who were able to identify a potential suspect last September.
A 28-year-old man, who was 16 at the time Landgraf died, was arrested in Edmonton last week and charged with first-degree murder.
He is to appear in court Feb. 16.
“We never stop in our pursuit of justice for murder victims. As technology advances, we are continuously reviewing unsolved homicides to see how new techniques can be applied to find new leads and bring answers to families of murder victims,” homicide unit Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm said in a statement Monday.
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