Murder of Michelle Martinko

Jerry Lynn Burns (born December 23, 1953 ) was 25 years old when he killed Michelle Martinko in December 1979.

Michelle Marie Martinko (October 6, 1961 – December 19, 1979) was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Martinko was the younger of two daughters of Albert F. Martinko and Janet Martinko (née Zillig).

She attended Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, where she was an above average student and well regarded by school officials.

She was also a talented performer, joined the twirling squad as a sophomore, and performed in choirs and theater productions.

She did not have many close girlfriends or confidantes, which was speculated to be caused by jealousy from other students over her beauty and stylish clothes or conflict over a boy she had dated.

Martinko, who was a senior in high school when she was killed, had plans to attend Iowa State University to study interior design.

He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972.

At 4a.m., police found the Martinko family's tan and green 1972 Buick Electra in the northeast corner of the mall parking lot by a JCPenney.

Martinko was found inside collapsed over the passenger seat and stabbed to death.

Martinko had been stabbed 29 times in her face, neck, and chest.

Her hands bore defensive wounds, which police said to indicate that she had fought back against her killer.

Police determined from the lack of blood outside the car that Martinko had been killed while in the car, and the medical examiner later estimated she had died between 8 and 10p.m. The murder weapon was "sharp-pointed" but not definitively a knife, and the medical examiner could not determine its size.

The killer left no fingerprints, which led police to believe they had worn gloves.

A police spokesman said that "everyone's instinct is to say it was a guy", but they were not sure of the sex of the killer.

Based on cash found in Martinko's purse, police concluded that she had not been robbed.

The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 19, 1979.

On the evening of December 19, 1979, Martinko attended a banquet for the Kennedy Concert Choir at the Sheraton Inn in Cedar Rapids.

She wore a black jersey dress and black scarf, black pantyhose and heels, and a waist-length white and brown rabbit fur jacket, and she carried a brown leather purse.

After the event, she asked her friend and twirling squad teammate if she wanted to join her on a shopping trip to the Westdale Mall, which had recently opened, and where Martinko worked.

Her friend declined.

Martinko then asked another acquaintance to go to the mall with her; that friend said yes at first but later changed her mind.

Martinko then went to the mall alone, carrying $180 and intending to finalize the purchase of a new winter coat that was on layaway.

Once there, she perused the stores and spoke with friends and other people she knew who worked there.

She was last seen almost 9p.m. outside of a jewelry store in the mall.

At 2a.m., since Martinko had still not returned home, her father reported her missing.

He began to search for her, as did the police.

In 2006, a cold case investigator discovered unidentified blood, presumably belonging to the killer, while he was reviewing case files.

A DNA profile was developed from that evidence and entered into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but no matches were found.

Burns had previously been married to Patricia Burns, who died in 2008 from suicide.

Burns's cousin, Brian Burns, went missing on December 19, 2013, and has not been found.

Although Burns's arrest in the Martinko case raised questions about the two incidents, police do not believe Burns was involved in either one.

In 2017, a company specializing in DNA phenotyping was hired to produce a new approximation of the killer's appearance based solely off the DNA sample.

It was a cold case until 2018, when familial DNA identified a suspect 39 years after the crime who was charged, tried and convicted of her murder.

In 2018, the company entered the DNA data from the case into the public genealogy website GEDmatch, where it found a familial DNA match.

In October 2018, DNA was covertly collected from an Iowa man, Jerry Lynn Burns, and was found to match the sample discovered on Martinko's clothing.

Burns was arrested and, on February 24, 2020, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Martinko.

On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

He lived in Manchester at the time of his arrest in 2020 and owned a powder coating business in the city.

He had worked for John Deere and co-owned a truck stop.