Authorities in Ohio say that DNA evidence helped investigators solve a cold-case investigation into the 1980 murders of Lynn Vest, and her nephew, Jeremy Pickens.
On Jan. 23, Sgt Terry McConnell and genealogist Amanda Reno identified Charles William Elliot as a suspect in the 45-year-old cold case. Elliot died in prison in 2000 on charges unrelated to the killings.
Elliot had a criminal history that included kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in Tennessee years before the Vest and Pickens killings. He died in prison in 2000 on charges unrelated to the killings.
Detectives say advances in DNA technology—specifically genetic genealogy—led them to Elliott through distant relatives. The killings occurred nearly two decades before offender DNA collection became routine, leaving investigators for years without a profile to compare in CODIS, the national database.
Even so, detectives preserved two rootless hairs recovered from the crime scene, including one measuring about three centimeters. When DNA testing became more common around 2000, investigators chose not to test the hairs out of concern that the evidence would be destroyed without producing usable results.
“We had no clue that it would be beneficial for anything but this forward thinking to collect that hair has been preserved all these years,” McConnell said. “We wanted to make sure the test was going to benefit and not consume the last bit of evidence we had on this.”
Reno said hair contains far less DNA than bodily fluids, bringing additional challenges to testing. She said breakthroughs in genetic genealogy around 2018 finally made it possible to extract enough information from the preserved hair to advance the case and identify a suspect.
In 2000, Elliott died in prison in his early 40s. Detectives said the cause of his death is unknown. Despite identifying him as a suspect, McConnell said the investigation remains active.
“We believe there is a possibility a second person participated,” McConnell said.
Family members of Vest and Pickens attended the announcement. Jeremy Pickens’ parents, John Pickens and Cheryl Button, said that while the identification brings some relief, the pain has never faded.
“Every holiday, every birthday — it’s very hard,” Button said. “The pain is always there. It never goes away.”
Button said she was four months pregnant when her son was killed.
“I just want to know why,” she said.
Also present was Shane Vest, Lynn Vest’s son, who was 18 months old at the time of the killings. Vest’s father, Don Hochuli, a retired Columbus police officer, said he remains grateful for investigators’ persistence and the advances in forensic technology.
“You don’t give up hope,” Hochuli said. “Something can be accomplished.”
Who was Charles William Elliott?
McConnell said Elliott had a history of violent crime that began in his late teens and continued for years after the 1980 killings of Vest and Pickens.
Elliott was arrested in Kentucky for robbery just days after his 18th birthday. After serving time, he returned to Tennessee, where he abducted a woman from a shopping center, forced her to drive to a wooded area and sexually assaulted her. Believing he had killed her, Elliott left the scene, but the woman survived and later identified him. He was convicted and sent to prison.
After his release, Elliott was released into the custody of his sister, who lived in Columbus, and was instructed not to return to Tennessee. Investigators say it was within weeks of arriving in Columbus that Elliott encountered Vest and her nephew and killed them on November 12.
Police say Elliott continued committing crimes after the killings. Weeks later, he robbed a jewelry store in Wilmington, Ohio, returned to Columbus and was arrested. He served time in the Ohio penitentiary, and after his release, committed another robbery in Columbus, resulting in another prison sentence.
Elliott died at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, according to police.
Why did the case go cold?
On Nov. 12, 1980, 23-year-old Lynn Vest and her 2½-year-old son, Jeremy Pickens, left their east Columbus home around 11 a.m. to run errands and never returned.
Investigators later learned Vest had deposited two checks at the Ohio State Bank nearby and was seen at several neighborhood stops, including a Save-Mart and a Woolco discount store, where a clerk recalled her buying Jeremy a red fruit punch. After that, their trail went cold.
They were reported missing that afternoon by Vest’s father, Don Hochuli, a Columbus police robbery detective. The following day, their bodies were found inside a blue Mustang Cobra parked near Berkeley Road and East Main Street, partially covered with a sheet and a towel. A coroner ruled Vest had been strangled and her son suffocated.
Early in the investigation, witnesses reported seeing the Mustang at the lot where it was later found, though accounts varied on timing. One woman told police she saw Vest earlier that day at a nearby Save-Mart putting air in a tire while two Black men stood nearby, one leaning against a white vehicle.
Another witness later said a Black man exited the Mustang and got into a white car that drove away.
Police recovered DNA evidence from the Mustang believed to belong to two men, as well as a single hair analysts said came from a Black man. Despite the physical evidence and witness accounts, investigators were unable to identify a suspect, establish a motive or locate a clear crime scene.
CPD is requesting anyone with information on Charles William Elliott or his associates to call 614-645-2228.
Trending reporter Amani Bayo can be reached at abayo@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: DNA technology identifies suspect in 45-year-old Columbus killings
Reporting by Amani Bayo, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
