The Michigan State Police this week said they have resolved a 1983 Flint, Michigan, kidnapping and homicide cold case after testing DNA from a deceased suspect.
The murder of 16-year-old Sheri Jo Elliott had remained unsolved for more than 40 years, the MSP Third District said in a release on April 13, until the MSP Forensic Science Division and Othram Labs utilized “Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing” to develop a profile of an unidentified suspect.
Police say Roni Collins, 75, of Grand Blanc, later was identified as a suspect, but before investigators could obtain a voluntary DNA sample, Collins died by suicide in January 2026.
DNA collected during his autopsy “was later analyzed and conclusively matched evidence recovered from Elliott in 1983, identifying him as the individual responsible for the crime,” the MSP said.
“Although Collins will not face prosecution, detectives believe the identification provides long-awaited answers to Elliott’s family and the community,” the MSP said.
Elliott was reported missing after she failed to return home from school in Flint on Nov. 16, 1983. She was last seen waiting for the bus.
Community members and local authorities searched the area for days. Her body was discovered four days later along a rural road in Saginaw County’s Blumfield Township.
She was shot multiple times, and investigators determined she also had been sexually assaulted.
Despite extensive efforts, the case went cold due to limited forensic technology available at the time. In 2023, detectives reopened the investigation and reexamined evidence using modern forensic science.
Western Michigan University Cold Case Program students were integral to solving this case, according to MSP. The students assisted in reorganizing and digitizing decades of investigative material, providing critical support to the renewed investigation.
According to an obituary included on the Find A Grave website, Elliott was born in Charlotte, Michigan, and was a junior at Flint Carman High School.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: State Police say they’ve ‘resolved’ 43-year-old cold case through DNA
Reporting by Dan Basso, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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