California 1981 Selena Keough Cold Case Solved - A Name From DNA Reopened a Murder Case from 1988

In July 1981, Selena Keough was murdered in Montclair, California. Five years later, 22-year-old Mary Duggan was found dead in Burbank. For years, the two cases remained unsolved and appeared to have no connection. Then DNA evidence linked the murders. Investigators still had no name for the unknown man behind the profile. Decades later, investigative genetic genealogy finally gave detectives a new lead: Horace Van Vaultz Jr. But when they looked into that name, they discovered something extraordinary. Vaultz had already stood trial for the murder of another young woman, Janna Rowe, in the 1980s — and had been acquitted. This Root of Crime documentary follows the case from Selena Keough’s final hours in 1981 and Mary Duggan’s murder in 1986 through the preserved evidence, the 2006 DNA connection, the genealogy investigation, the discarded-DNA comparison, the renewed Janna Rowe evidence, Vaultz’s 2019 arrest, his 2022 murder trial and conviction, sentencing, and the later appeals and post-conviction proceedings. The case became the first criminal prosecution filed in Los Angeles County using investigative genetic genealogy. The documentary also examines testimony presented at trial, the defense argument, the 21 unidentified-women photograph appeal, and the families who spent decades waiting for answers. Victims featured: Selena Keough Mary Duggan Related case: Janna Rowe Subscribe to Root of Crime for carefully researched, victim-centered cold-case documentaries following the evidence, investigation, courtroom developments and family aftermath from beginning to resolution. #ColdCase #TrueCrime #coldcasesolved