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Authorities in California have identified a suspect in a murder case that has gone unsolved since 1988.
Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and Galt Police Chief Brian Kalinowski identified Terry Bramble as a lead suspect in the murder of 79-year-old Lucille Hultgren during a press conference Tuesday, Fox 40 of Sacramento reported.
Terry Bramble was 32 years old when he sexually assaulted Hultgren inside her home, before he fatally stabbed and strangled her, Kalinowski said.
The discovery was made possible by new technology in the field of DNA analysis, as it matched DNA collected during Bramble’s 1992 sexual assault conviction, Schubert said.
“The fingernail scrapings became the key to solving this case,” she said, pointing to the DNA matching the scrapings found on Hultgren’s body.
Sacramento district attorney Anne Marie Schubert on April 25, 2018, in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“For nearly two decades our crime lab, the Sacramento County DA’s crime lab, worked extensively to examine, to study, and meticulously find the evidence that was necessary in this case,” she added, according to the report.
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Kalinowski also said investigators are now looking into whether Bramble is connected with any other crimes, Fox Sacramento reported.
“We are canvassing other jurisdictions to see if there are any common cold cases out there that we can look into not only here in our community but in the region,” he said.
The roof of a police patrol car at night, with the blue and red lights flashing.
(iStock)
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Members of Hultgren’s church found her body in her home, where she had been living alone following her husband’s death the previous year.
Terry Leroy Bramble was identified as a lead suspect in a 1988 cold case by investigators on May 17, 2022. (Galt Police Department)
(Galt Police Department)
Bramble had been living under a bridge for about five years before he died of natural causes in 2011, police said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.