DNA testing identifies a woman found in 2006 and linked to a Detroit serial killer
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/01/2025 (332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
DETROIT (AP) — The remains of a woman found in an abandoned Detroit house have been identified nearly 20 years later, the likely victim of a serial killer who was blamed for at least seven deaths, authorities said Tuesday.
The woman, known since 2006 only as Jane Doe, has been identified as Darylnn Washington, thanks to advanced DNA testing, police said.
Detroit police turned to Othram Inc., a Texas company, in 2022 to try to solve the mystery.
Othram said it used forensic evidence to build a DNA profile, conduct genealogy research and provide fresh investigative leads to police. It regularly works with U.S. law enforcement agencies.
“Technology is amazing,” said Jackson Vidaurri, a Detroit police spokesperson.
Washington’s family was notified. No other details about the high-tech effort were immediately released.
In 2006, Shelly Brooks was charged with killing seven women whom he had paid for sex. Some victims had been found years earlier. He was taken to trial in two deaths, convicted and sentenced to life in prison, records show.
The other cases were no longer pursued in court after Brooks’ lifetime imprisonment was assured, said Maria Miller of the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.
“All their bodies were found in remote locations in Detroit: an abandoned apartment building, a vacant garage, an alley, a vacant field, and a vacant house,” the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a summary in 2008.
DNA evidence and Brooks’ detailed, incriminating statements to police were used against him at trial, though he denied killing anyone when he testified in his own defense. Jurors didn’t believe him.