Cold Case Solved: DNA Match Leads to Conviction in 45-Year-Old Alaska Murder

An Oregon man, Donald McQuade, has been convicted of murder in the 1978 death of Shelley Connolly, a teenage girl in Alaska, after investigators used genetic genealogy testing to match his DNA to the crime scene. McQuade was living in Alaska at the time of the murder, and investigators were able to obtain a DNA sample from him that matched DNA found on Connolly's body. The case was delayed due to the pandemic, but McQuade's attorney plans to appeal the conviction. The use of genetic genealogy has been hailed as a game-changer in solving cold cases.