APD pros crack cold case

It’s the kind of police work TV crime dramas are made of, complete with the cast and components Hollywood loves:

A pretty 17-year-old high school student. A vicious, near-fatal beating that puts her in a coma. Amnesia. A long recovery with surgeries, rehab and lingering damage. A dogged police detective who worked with the family for years. Snippets of returning memory. An uncooperative suspect. A discarded fast-food cup with DNA evidence. A late-night arrest. A front-page story.

Except this isn’t Hollywood; this is the best of the Albuquerque Police Department in action. In 2008, Brittani Marcell was brutally beaten with a shovel during a lunch break at her West Side home. Detective Jodi Gonterman was assigned the case on Aug. 19, 2013, and since then has worked extremely closely with Brittani, her sisters say. When Brittani remembered a name and events leading up to the attack, APD tracked down Justin Hansen. When he refused to give a DNA sample, they set up a stakeout, picked up his discarded McDonald’s cup and got a DNA match to evidence from the grisly 2008 scene.

As Hansen now makes his way through the legal system, as Brittani continues to heal and hopes for sight and hearing to return on her left side, her sisters say they are extremely grateful for the attention Gonterman gave the case.

And Albuquerque should be extremely grateful APD has good cops like Gonterman and the team of professional law enforcement officers who refused to give up on this case.