A Domestic Violence Case Finally Exposed Kristy Wesselman's Killer

On the afternoon of July 21, 1985, 15-year-old Kristy Wesselman left her home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, to walk to a nearby Jewel store. She went there to buy a candy bar and a soda for herself and her mother. She never made it home. The following morning, a sheriff’s detective retracing Kristy’s route discovered the candy bar and soda abandoned near a wooded shortcut. Nearby, he found Kristy’s body in a field. Investigators recovered biological evidence from the crime scene and were eventually able to develop a DNA profile. But in 1985, that evidence could not identify the person responsible. For decades, investigators followed hundreds of leads. They even kept one unusual clue secret from the public: a family heirloom ring Kristy had been wearing that disappeared after her murder. In 2011, police finally revealed the missing ring and offered a $10,000 reward for information that could lead to a conviction. Still, the killer remained unidentified. Then, in 2015, an unrelated felony conviction changed everything. Michael R. Jones was required to provide a DNA sample. When that sample was entered into the database, it matched the biological evidence recovered from Kristy’s body three decades earlier. Jones initially denied knowing Kristy. But investigators now had the evidence they had been waiting for since 1985. On January 18, 2018, Jones pleaded guilty to Kristy Wesselman’s murder. Five days later, he was sentenced to 80 years in prison. After 32 years, Kristy’s family finally knew who had taken their daughter. Here at Cold Case Unlocked, we followed Kristy Wesselman’s final journey in 1985, the decades-long investigation, the secret clue police kept hidden for years, and the DNA breakthrough that finally identified her killer. Subscribe for carefully researched cold cases, solved murders, DNA breakthroughs, and the investigations that bring long-awaited answers. #coldcases #truecrime #kristywesselman