Current:Home > My28 years after Idaho woman's brutal murder, DNA on clasp of underwear points to her former neighbor as the killer -Core Financial Strategies
28 years after Idaho woman's brutal murder, DNA on clasp of underwear points to her former neighbor as the killer
View
Date:2025-04-16 13:06:08
A decades-old homicide case has been solved in Idaho, thanks to modern forensic tests that linked the former neighbor of a slain woman to her murder nearly 30 years later. Authorities announced this week that Danny Lee Kennison was identified as the attacker in Wilma Mobley's brutal killing in Jerome on Aug. 10, 1995.
Mobley was 84 years old when officers found her dead from strangulation and an "attack with an axe type instrument," said Jerome Police Chief Duane Rubink in a news release issued Wednesday. At the time, Kennison and Mobley were neighbors, although authorities said they did not have any personal relationship.
Kennison died by suicide at his home in Filer, Idaho, in 2001. He was originally identified by investigators in the 90s as one of three possible suspects in Mobley's killing. But the case eventually ran cold, as the investigation failed to come up with conclusive evidence pointing to a specific attacker, the police chief said.
The cold case was reviewed again in the years that followed Mobley's murder, and Rubink said that Jerome police coordinated with the FBI, the Idaho State Police Lab and other forensic sources while trying to identify the killer, to no avail. By 2006, police could only develop a minor lead that Rubnik described as "unproductive."
New investigators would continue to review the case over the next decade, in hopes that fresh eyes could help make headway. In June 2022, Sgt. Clinton Wagner took over the investigation at the Jerome Police Department and contacted the Idaho State Police forensics lab to submit the case for more advanced DNA analysis than had been conducted in the past. Rubink said Wagner and state police lab technicians went over evidence collected during previous iterations of the investigation into Mobley's murder and ultimately sent a portion of it to the lab for testing in March of this year.
On Monday, lab technicians reported that "a significant amount of a DNA profile" matching Kennison had been found on a clasp from Mobley's underwear. Rubink said police have closed the cold case because of the amount of DNA matching Kennison and excluding the other suspects mentioned in Mobley's case file, and because no other DNA profile was present.
Rubink said that Wagner met with Mobley's family members on Tuesday to tell them the case was closed.
"The Jerome Police Department thanks the officers, detectives, and prosecutors who have worked on this case over the years, and helped to preserve the evidence which was available for this testing," he said. "We also greatly appreciate the support and efforts put forth by the members of the Idaho State Police Forensics lab who made this closure possible for the victim's family, and our department."
Jerome is a city in southern Idaho, about halfway between Boise and Idaho Falls.
- In:
- Idaho
- Cold Case
- DNA
- Murder
- Crime
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
Twitter InstagramveryGood! (5)
Related
- The city of Chicago is ordered to pay nearly $80M for a police chase that killed a 10
- The Latest | 2 soldiers are killed in a West Bank car-ramming attack, Israeli military says
- What's going on with Ryan and Trista Sutter? A timeline of the 'Bachelorette' stars' cryptic posts
- US Olympic pairs figure skating coach Dalilah Sappenfield banned for life for misconduct
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- House Ethics Committee investigating indicted Rep. Henry Cuellar
- The Latest | Israel expands Rafah offensive, saying it now controls Gaza’s entire border with Egypt
- Lab-grown meat isn’t on store shelves yet, but some states have already banned it
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Minnesota man dismembered pregnant sister, placed body parts on porch, court papers show
Ranking
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- BHP Group drops its bid for Anglo American, ending plans to create a global mining giant
- Massive 95-pound flathead catfish caught in Oklahoma
- Argentina women’s soccer players understand why teammates quit amid dispute, but wish they’d stayed
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Where Vanderpump Rules' Breakout Star Ann Maddox Stands With Tom Sandoval & Ariana Madix Today
- Former TikToker Ali Abulaban Found Guilty in 2021 Murders of His Wife and Her Friend
- A group of armed men burns a girls’ school in northwest Pakistan, in third such attack this month
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
6th house in 4 years collapses into Atlantic Ocean along North Carolina's Outer Banks
US District Judge Larry Hicks dies after being struck by vehicle near Nevada courthouse
Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized a Palestinian state. Here's why it matters.
Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
Roberto Clemente's sons sued for allegedly selling rights to MLB great's life story to multiple parties
Clerk over Alex Murdaugh trial spent thousands on bonuses, meals and gifts, ethics complaint says
US District Judge Larry Hicks dies after being struck by vehicle near Nevada courthouse