Ohio authorities arrest man in death of duo

WHEATON, ILL. » Ohio authorities relying on DNA and public genealogy databases arrested a man in connection with the 2016 deaths in Illinois of an elderly woman and her son, The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.

Jonathan Hurst, who formerly lived in Chicago, is accused of beating to death 85-year-old Patricia Wilson, 85, and her son, Robert Wilson, 64, in their Sycamore, Illinois home in August 2016. Extradition proceedings have begun to return the man to Illinois to face two counts of firstdegree murder.

Authorities say they linked Hurst to the pair’s deaths through a DNA profile that was checked with public genealogy databases.

“This work took an extraordinary amount of effort and a significant amount of time to locate this offender, and through this effort approximately one week ago a solid lead was identified using this unique profile along with continued diligent investigative techniques that led us to make this announcement today,” Sheriff Roger Scott said in a statement.

The bodies of the mother and son were found in their home in a town of about 17,000 people located 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of Chicago. An auto belonging to the mother was recovered eight days after the murders near Lincoln Park Zoo. It is believed Hurst acted alone.

The sheriff’s office said it enlisted the help of Parabon, a company that specializes in DNA phenotyping, in tracking Hurst down. The sheriff’s office said it continued to work with Parabon “to narrow down the scope of the DNA and build a family tree that eventually led to” Hurst.