Investigators followed a 52-year-old Isanti, Minn., businessman to a hockey game, where he ordered food from the concession stand. After he wiped his mouth with a napkin and dropped it the trash, they recovered it for DNA analysis.
That DNA evidence links a Jerry Westrom with the 1993 fatal stabbing of a Minneapolis woman, prosecutors say. They used traced DNA found at the scene and identified Westrom using genealogical sites.
Westrom has been charged with second-degree murder in Hennepin County in connection with the death of Jeanne Ann Childs, who was 35 when she was killed on June 13 in the bedroom of her home in the 3000 block of Pillsbury Avenue South.
According to the charges, Childs was a sex worker who received clients at her apartment.
Her body was found in a shower at the apartment with numerous stab wounds and blood covering her, the bed, the bedroom and much of the bathroom, the charges say.
The Hennepin County medical examiner later reported that her death was “a result of homicide caused by multiple sharp force trauma to the chest” and went on to say that some of wounds were inflicted postmortem, according to the charges.
Law enforcement officials learned that Westrom lived in the Twin Cities from April 9, 1991, to Dec. 31, 1993, according to the charges. Records indicated he had contacts with law enforcement related to prostitution, including a conviction for solicitation in February 2016, according to the charges.
In January 2019, law enforcement officials began surveillance on Westrom, the charges say, intending to get a sampling of his DNA.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension analyzed the DNA from recovered napkin, the charges say.
While BCA officials determined the napkin contained a mixture of DNA, the major male profile was consistent with DNA samples from the crime scene in 1993, according to the charges.
COLD-CASE BREAKTHROUGH: Arrest made in 1993 murder based on DNA, info on genealogy site
After Westrom was taken into custody, authorities collected another DNA sample from him. His DNA is a likely match to that found in the apartment in 1993. The BCA is conducting further testing of DNA to be compared to evidence from the crime scene, the charges say.
Westrom, in a meeting with investigators, denied he was at the apartment complex, denied recognizing Childs, and denied having sex with any women in Minneapolis in 1993, according to the charges.
Westrom further told investigators, when showed the DNA evidence collected, that he had no idea why his DNA would be found in Childs’ apartment, the charges say.
