DNA evidence has solved a 24-year-old cold case of an Alaska teen who was raped and murdered after celebrating her 17th birthday, authorities said.
Steve Branch, a 66-year-old man from Austin, Arkansas, shot himself bankrupt on August 3 after Alaska State forces interviewed him at his home in the sexual assault and murder of Jessica Baggen, who disappeared on May 4, 1996. , as she walked home a day after celebrating her birthday, authorities said Tuesday.
Under a new forensic procedure called genetic genealogy, Branch emerged as a suspect in the unsolved genocide late last year. The Arkansas man, who was living in Sitka at the time, denied involvement in Baggen’s death and refused to submit a DNA sample, troopers said.
Branch shot himself about 30 minutes after investigators left his home to conduct a search. An autopsy later found his DNA matched that of a sample song at the scene and on Baggen’s body, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
“While nothing will ease the pain or bring Jessica back, I am humbled and proud of the work that many lawmakers have done over the years to bring closure to their family and friends,” the Alaska Department of Public said. Safety Commissioner Amanda Price. “They never forgot about Jessica or the people who loved her.”
Baggen’s body was found buried under a fallen tree days after her disappearance, reports the Anchorage Daily News. She was remembered as a “real Sitka kid” who loved fishing and cooking, as well as “Thanksgiving pie-making marathons” with her family, according to her obituary.
A Sitka man confessed to killing Baggen shortly after her death, but no physical evidence linked him to the crime and he was eventually released. More than 100 other potential suspects were also removed by DNA comparison, the newspaper reported.
A DNA sample from the crime scene was uploaded to genealogy databases in February 2019. Branch – who in 1996 was accused of sexually assaulting another teenage woman but was eventually released – was identified as a suspect in death of Baggen at the end of the year, authorities said.
Branch, who moved to Arkansas in 2010, was living at addresses near where Baggen’s body was found, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The teen would be 41 words in May.
.
