COLD CASES CRACKED WITH CRI How the first gen detective British gi killer 36 after her

AMATEUR detective Cece Moore will never forget the chilling moment she cracked the mystery of a schoolgirl whose murder had been unsolved for 36 years.

The victim was Julie Fuller, 11, whose family had moved from Britain to America for a new life. They had barely settled in when their child was kidnapped.

Julie’s body was found in Fort Worth, Texas in 1983. She had been raped. There were few clues and the case went cold.

Fast forward to December 2019 and Cece, 51, a professional genealogist, was analysing DNA from the crime scene.

And after decades of dead ends the investigator identified Vietnam veteran James Mcnichols as the killer.

He never faced earthly justice because he died in 2004. But Julie’s family finally had answers. Cece said: “There’s often that moment when I discover a murderer’s identity and I’m the only person on earth who knows. Apart from the killer.

Barefoot

killer I identify I help to clear the names of hundreds who have suffered under the burden of suspicion and had their lives tormented by accusations and gossip.”

But selftaught genealogist Cece, who has no policing background, said: “It’s never a truly happy ending. I can’t undo the damage done or bring a victim back from the grave.” Cece, with her made-for-television appeal, is at the cutting edge of a controversial innovation in criminal investigations – citizen scientists and private firms who help police to identify killers and sometimes victims.

They put crime scene DNA profiles into public ancestry websites which are designed to help people track down relatives. Cece used to be an actress, working with pop icon Michael

Jackson, director

Francis Ford Coppola, and screen stars Jack

Black, Mickey Rourke and Dennis Hopper.

She launched her own ad production agency, which her husband,

Lennard Martinson, 51, still runs.

But since becoming a pioneer of forensic genealogy, Cece and her team have solved an amazing 115 cold cases, bringing justice to thousands whose loved ones were victims of unknown killers.

Cece’s first murder case was in 2018. Police asked her to probe the deaths of Canadian high school sweethearts Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, and Jay Cook, 20. They went missing on a trip to Seattle,

Washington, in 1987. DNA has long used to identify criminals when an genetic match is found but more no suspect emerges.

Police who run out of leads give C crime scene DNA and she sear public databases of millions of people who have sought relatives, family ancestry, or medical