CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – DNA evidence will be allowed in the trial of the man accused of killing a Cedar Rapids teenager, Michelle Martinko, more than 40 years ago.

Jerry Burns listens to county attorneys in Linn County District Court, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 in Cedar Rapids. Iowa. Burns is charged with first-degree murder in the 1979 death of Michelle Martinko, and appeared with attorney Leon Spies for a pretrial hearing on a motion to suppress evidence and admissibility of evidence. (Liz Martin/The Gazette via AP, Pool)

On Thursday, a judge ruled prosecutors can use a straw police obtained in Jerry Burns’s trial. Police say they obtained the DNA from a drinking straw that Burns left behind at a Manchester restaurant. Investigators say the DNA links Burns to the crime scene.

While the straw is allowed, a judge earlier this week ruled that Burns’s internet search history for pornography should not be allowed in the trial. The familial genetic material will also be allowed in the trial.

Prosecutors believe Burns stabbed Martinko to death in December of 1979. Police found her body in her parents’ car at Westdale Mall.

Burns’s trial is scheduled to begin on Monday morning in Scott County.