1989 Cold Case Finally Solved | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace | Forensic Files

[TENSE MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas, 1989. A beautiful, young 20-year-old woman,
Krista Martin, is out for drinks with friends at a local bar. ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: She just liked to go out, and hang
out, and be with her friends. You know, she was 20 years old. She was young and starting to experience life.
NANCY GRACE: After Krista Martin returns to her home, she meets a horrific end. RODERICK MILLER: An individual known to Krista Martin
went over to check on her. DAN HARTY: He arrived, found the door was unlocked. He went inside the residence and he found
Krista lying on the couch. And she was deceased. NANCY GRACE: Investigators begin their hunt
for a rapist and a killer. DAN HARTY: They would have been looking for fingerprints, any type of trace evidence
that they could find. NANCY GRACE: Wichita Police tracked down every possible clue, but the case goes cold.
MARC BENNETT: It was bad enough for the people who knew and loved her that she died.
But I think that loss was compounded by the fact that over the last, better part of 30 years,
her case went unsolved. NANCY GRACE: Decades later, cold case detectives turned to groundbreaking
forensic technology. ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: Nobody ever expected this person to be the guy that would be accused of a brutal rape
and murder of Krista. NANCY GRACE: This is the story of a 30-year-long hunt for a brutal rapist, a killer.
I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives". [THEME MUSIC] [TENSE MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: 1989, Sedgwick County, Kansas--
it's home to the City of Wichita and McConnell Air Force Base. The area is dotted with companies
that cater to the military. MARC BENNETT: Sedgwick County is on the south-central part
of Kansas. Wichita is the biggest city in Sedgwick County. Aircraft has been, for a long time,
our primary business since the '40s and '50s in this community. So it's very much a blue-collar community
with folks who work in these companies for a long time over the last several generations.
ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: I think of it as a small town that's trying to be a big city.
We've got about a half a million people in our metro area. We have a downtown that's trying to revitalize idolize
itself, that's trying to become a thriving metropolis, if you will. We do pull a lot of people from the outer areas into Wichita.
MARC BENNETT: It's a good place to raise a family, good cost of living, that sort of thing.
So these are things that draw people to Wichita. MICHAEL HENNESSY: Back in 1989, Wichita, so much smaller.
It was not as sprawled out as it is now. We definitely did have some issues. And just like any city does when it comes to crime and such.
NANCY GRACE: 20-year-old Krista Martin lives in her apartment there in Wichita. She's got an active social life.
And she's often seen at multiple restaurants and nightspots. [SENTIMENTAL MUSIC]
She was one year older than me. Krista was a very shy, quiet person until you got to know her, and then
her real personality came out. It was her and I. We hung out as much as we could,
especially during the summers. Krista and I were the two tomboys of the family. Her and I were peas in a pod.
We just had so much fun together. NANCY GRACE: Krista Martin loves to go out with friends,
but her father's worried and he pays her a visit. RODERICK MILLER: Her father had been over to her apartment
September 30. And there was an argument about her lifestyle. She liked the bar lifestyle.
She was a people person. She wasn't afraid to have a conversation with people. I don't think her father really agreed
with the way she was living. And there was mentioning that Krista's father was going
to help her move out of that apartment, because she was having a hard time paying for rent.
She was working at a place called Kansas Blueprint in town, where it was a place that had been around for years.
And she had worked there for a period of time but had been laid off. She didn't have a new job, from what I understood.
She just liked to go out, and hang out, and be with her friends. You know, she was-- she was 20-years-old.
She was young. She was just experiencing and starting to experience life when this tragedy struck her.
NANCY GRACE: One of Krista Martin's male friends gets worried. He decides to check in on her at her apartment
just after midnight. Dispatch received a call about 1:00 in the morning on October 2, 1989,
from a friend of our victim. He had gone to the residence just to check on her, basically.
The residence was a converted family residence, a two-story family residence that was converted into three
apartments back in 1989. DAN HARTY: He arrived, found the door was unlocked. He went inside the residence and he found
Krista lying on the couch. And she was deceased. MICHAEL HENNESSY: He exited the apartment,
and then went to a nearby store to call 911. Detectives, on duty at the time, responded to the scene.
MARC BENNETT: Brass would have shown up. So we're talking a captain, a lieutenant, somebody like that,
who would have set up the crime scene and secured the scene. They noted that there was no forced entry on the residence.
The door was open. The windows were intact. MICHAEL HENNESSY: I got there approximately an hour later.
I was called from home. I reported it to our station, then drove immediately to the crime scene.
Parked out in the street. Walked inside, puts me straight into the living room, and I observed a white female lying on the couch.
MARC BENNETT: What stood out to me? First of all, the positioning of her body, the fact that she was in a state of undress, and the fact
that it appeared that the fatal attack, the blow that had killed her, had taken place in a time before she'd
had a chance to collect herself, cover herself, et cetera. Having handled, sadly, many sexual homicides over the course
of my career, it looked like she was either struck preceding or simultaneous to the sexual attack
or maybe at the conclusion of the sexual attack. But the point is, she was unable to retreat, cover herself, seek
help, or anything like that. She died where the attack took place, is what it looked like to me.
DAN HARTY: They didn't really see a big sign of a struggle, except for in the immediate area near the couch.
At that location, they found a plate that was overturned. There was a steak knife on the ground.
And it appeared that she had been maybe interrupted from eating a meal of some sort.
ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: Obviously, her clothing was collected to be processed. The sleeping bag was collected as well.
DAN HARTY: Eventually, after the scene had been documented, Krista's body was taken in for an autopsy.
And during that a doctor was examining her. But while that was going on, law enforcement was present.
A sexual assault kit was taken. And at that point, they're looking for signs of semen, seminal fluids, things like that.
They were also documenting the various types of injuries on her. There were notated striations on what would
be her left side of her neck. And they actually took the steak knife from the scene
to the autopsy and had a comparison done. And they determined that that steak knife was likely the item that had made
the striations on her neck. The doctors were able to, you know, do their more thorough, intrusive examination
where they determined that she died of blunt force trauma to the head. Even today, we don't know what it was.
We just know that it was some object that impacted the side of her head in such a strong manner,
that it caused her brain to shake or go against the other side of her head. But no actual item was ever found.
NANCY GRACE: Once Krista Martin is identified, police must now tell her loved ones about Krista's brutal end.
[SOMBER MUSIC] MICHAEL HENNESSY: The family we contacted would have been Krista's parents.
And she only being 20-years-old, as a parent, that's got to be the toughest thing in the world
for anybody can do. And I know it was extremely hard for them. I was a sophomore in college.
And I had just gotten back to my dorm room. And I got told by my RA that I needed to call
my Grandma Martin's house. And they asked if somebody was ill in the family. And I said, well, my grandmother has been.
And so I called, and my cousin answered the phone. And I asked, what's going on?
Is it Grandma? And he goes, no, it's Krista. And I go, what about her? And he goes, she's dead.
And I blacked out, and fainted, and passed out on the floor. I said, her and I were peas in a pod.
And she was more like a sister to me than a cousin. Any time I'm in town, I drive down Kellogg Street
and I pass Osage, I always say hi to her because I still feel her spirit when I drive by there.
It changed my entire life. I could not digest it at all. [SIGHS] I didn't want to live.
I wanted to be with her. And so I quit going to school. I changed the way I did things.
I just didn't want to be around. I, a couple times, tried to wreck my car just to be-- end it all, just to be with her,
because I just didn't know how I was gonna do it without her. [OMINOUS MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Wichita Police immediately
launched a hunt for a killer. But will they find the brutal murderer who ends Krista Martin's life?
We find out next on "Bloodline Detectives". [THEME TONES] [SINISTER MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas, October 2, 1989,
the body of 20-year-old Krista Martin discovered shortly after midnight in her own apartment.
Krista, the victim of a brutal homicide and rape. Investigators began to piece together the final hour
of Krista's life. I always felt like it was someone that she was at least aware of, an acquaintance or a friend,
or something to that effect. Due to the fact that there was no force on the door.
The door was kind of beat up, but there was no fresh breakage to suggest someone broke in.
I learned early on that she was somewhat of a night owl. And so her being up at that time of day or at night,
whatever, was not unusual for her. She could have had a friend come over. DAN HARTY: One thing we do know about Krista
is she was very trusting of people. She was often known to get rides home from various bars
or other locations she was at. And she would allow strangers to come not only to her house,
but inside the house as well. [OMINOUS MUSIC] MICHAEL HENNESSY: When he, the suspect, made advances,
Krista fought him off. She did not want to have anything to do what he had on his mind.
And when Krista fought back, that's when the attacker hurt her. As far as defensive wounds, like on her hands or any other part
of her body, and-- you can fight somebody off and not get any wounds. But it's just-- the fact that she was on the couch
and the attacker was on top of her, it would be difficult to fend off your attacker in that position.
A sexual assault occurred. And during the assault, Krista fought back. The attacker overpowered her and killed her.
And the fact that she was covered suggests that maybe it was unintentional. Of course, it doesn't make any difference.
But, well, he just had remorse by covering up the body, because when you see that a crime scene there, someone's
there and they're still there after the incident and they cover the body, then that just tells you
they knew her or that there's some remorse, something to that effect. MARC BENNETT: As a rule of thumb,
we're gonna want to eliminate all-- as a suspect, we're gonna eliminate anybody who was close to her.
Family members, obviously, love interests. The sad truth is, roughly 80% of women who die a violent death,
it's at the hands of someone they were in a relationship with. Assault stranger deaths are actually fairly rare.
And so if I'm the lieutenant on scene that night, I'm gonna want to know the whereabouts
of her last boyfriend. I want to talk to her parents. I want to know who she associated with.
I'm gonna start small before I work my way out. NANCY GRACE: Detectives search Krista Martin's
home looking for any evidence that could point them to a suspect. MARC BENNETT: In those days, fingerprints would have
been cutting-edge technology. And so the scene would have been dusted for prints.
And lifts from those fingerprints would have been taken. DNA is something that is utilized often in law
enforcement investigations. With a single source contributor-- so we're talking about one person who left semen,
blood, saliva at or near a crime scene-- the ability for law enforcement then to go find a suspect
and match them to that individual DNA through DNA analysis has been very advantageous
for law enforcement. It helps us eliminate suspects. It helps us identify defendants.
And obviously, it's been a major tool in the criminal justice system for the last 30 years or so.
But in those days, it was just serology. And so they would have collected any samples.
They would have at least known to do that, which has been very advantageous in solving old cases,
because old rape kits, old blood, semen, or saliva that was collected at scenes was maintained in property
and evidence sections in law enforcement agencies around the country. [TENSE MUSIC]
NANCY GRACE: Once again, Wichita detectives interview Krista's friend who found her the night of the murder.
ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: The person that comes over there and finds her, you know, is obviously
gonna be a person of interest that we're gonna want to-- that we're gonna talk to immediately.
And they did that with that gentleman. I mean, they brought him up for an interview immediately.
His whereabouts, what he was doing, why he came over there, you know, how he knew Krista,
his relationship with Krista, those things, obviously, were asked and answered. And he was a suspect, obviously.
But through the course of the investigation, he was ruled out. He was never considered to be under arrest.
We just want to get his story and to find out what his relationship with the victim was, and what he did,
and why he was there that particular night and that type of stuff. Everything that he told the detectives about where he was
or who he had been with, had checked out pretty quickly. Within a day or so, you know, those answers
were corroborated and backed up with the interviews they had done after the fact.
NANCY GRACE: Now that murder victim Krista Martin's friend is ruled out as a suspect, detectives commence canvassing
the entire local area. DAN HARTY: Detectives would start combing the neighborhood
in a canvas, knocking on doors, asking for information about what someone might have seen at the house,
or getting other background information as to what normally occurs at Krista's residence.
ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: When you have a major incident in a neighborhood, in a downtown area, or wherever it may be,
boots on the ground, knocking on people's doors, going door to door to door, searching areas, searching
streets, searching residences, I mean, all of that is a tried and true method, which
is why we still use it today. DAN HARTY: They mainly worked on finding a timeline for Krista's
last activities, knowing when she returned to the house, what she was doing that day.
They were able to backtrack people that she had been in contact with in the previous 48 hours.
And really, you know, at the time, there's not the surveillance video that we have now on today's cases.
So they basically had to find this information out just from talking to people and doing interviews.
ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: She was found on October 2, early in the morning, which is a Monday.
Her family last saw her on the 1st of October. She had gone over to her mom's house to pick something
up on the east side of Wichita. Her dad saw her that morning. He thought he was gonna help her move out of the apartment,
'cause she was trying to find a new place 'cause she wasn't getting along there any longer.
You know, so she had been seen, you know, within 24 hours or so of being found. I know that she had been seen at the gas station over there
at Maple and Seneca. The clerk had been interviewed and said that they had seen her somewhere between, I think, 2 o'clock
and 3 o'clock that afternoon, where she had come into the store to buy the steak, and the potatoes, and the corn,
and the things that she had eaten as one of her last things that she had eaten. They tracked down multiple people
that were friends and acquaintances of Krista, people that she would have hung out with at this club or that club,
you know, people that they knew she had gotten into a fight with prior to the murder happening.
They had talked to a female that she had gone into a fight with that was dating or married to another man.
Those two people were thought to be suspects potentially. So they focused a lot of their time and attention
on those two individuals, and tracking down their movements and getting their interviews done,
and just corroborating their stories. MICHAEL HENNESSY: Our best tool was our DNA matches.
So everybody we talked with, all the people, the acquaintances, the friends agreed and submitted DNA to be tested against a DNA
profile from the crime scene. NANCY GRACE: Between 1990 and 1992, Wichita Police send DNA samples from the crime scene
to the FBI for testing. Investigators hoping against hope the FBI can match those samples to a suspect.
But unfortunately, they come up empty. MICHAEL HENNESSY: I always hoped that this case would be solved.
We did so many profiles and eliminated so many people. At one point, I thought, well, maybe
this is a stranger or someone we're just not aware of. Through all of the interviews they did,
they looked at different people, they looked at different suspects, but everybody
kept getting ruled out. When a case is not solved within a few weeks, there's an element of it that's cold.
Meaning, you're gonna have to go out and find evidence to breathe new life into it.
So I would say certainly within that first year, the failure to identify or inability to identify
a viable suspect rendered the case, by many definition, cold at that point. NANCY GRACE: The case of Krista Martin's homicide
goes cold for years, but Wichita Police don't give up. They keep the investigation going
when they believe they get new clues or discover new ways to solve it. MICHAEL HENNESSY: When the case goes cold,
people have the perception that it gets shelved. This particular case, it was not shelved.
We do what we can for the first few months, and the personnel are scaled off. And I, myself, will pick up other cases,
but it always stays with me, because we continue to interview people, we continue to get the DNA samples,
and we continue to send samples to the FBI lab in Quantico to make a comparison.
[SOMBER MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: For now, the hunt for Krista Martin's killer remains cold.
But revolutionary forensic science is just on the horizon. Can that science finally provide the break Wichita
Police have been waiting on? That's next on "Bloodline Detectives". [THEME TONES]
[PENSIVE MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas, 2009, a new cold case team from the Wichita Police Department
is briefed about the 1989 murder of Krista Martin. The 20-year-old woman, the victim of a violent,
a brutal rape and murder. Investigators, amazingly, have recovered DNA from the crime
scene, but still no match. DAN HARTY: There was a lot there. The original detectives had done a tremendous amount of work
in knocking on doors and talking to people. They also got a lot of blood samples from individuals.
And that's kind of where I started, because I saw that the sexual assault kit had been taken
at the time of her death, and that there was semen present on that actual sample.
However, in reviewing it, I saw that the case had not been submitted to CODIS. So I decided that probably the best option
would be to try to get a profile identified and placed into the CODIS system. CODIS is basically a national DNA database.
It has a couple different aspects of it. One would be unknown or unsolved crimes, like for example,
in this case, the profile of the unknown offender was put into CODIS. But it also then has the known standards
of individuals who have been convicted of felony crimes. So basically, this database was my hope
of putting that profile of Krista's killer into the system, and that we would then have a name to go on and follow-up.
Our DNA analysts, they worked with the sample. They were able to generate a profile.
They placed it into CODIS, and we received no hits. And honestly, that was pretty disappointing.
And I was actually surprised, because I figured that someone who had done such a heinous and cruel crime to Krista
had probably offended at another time. And so I thought either they would have been captured
or we might have another unsolved crime that they were involved in. But we received no hits at all.
NANCY GRACE: Krista Martin's case goes cold again, this time for over a decade. But then 2020, there's a glimmer of hope.
The forensic science of investigative genetic genealogy is now solving hundreds of cold cases all across the country.
JONATHAN DAVIS: We were speaking with the Wichita Police Department about a new investigative tool
that we have at the FBI, known as investigative genetic genealogy. And kind of just discussing some of the cases they had that
may be able to fit the criteria we have, where we can assist state and local law
enforcement in utilizing that tool to help them in cases. COLBY LASOYNE: Genetic genealogy allows
you to look at a DNA profile and understand a family tree for an individual that you're trying to identify.
Folks who have taken a genealogy test can have uploaded their profile. CARLA DAVIS: What we do, once the profile comes to us,
is we separate those matches into groups. So what is a group? A group is an individual who matches the profile and shares
matches with that profile. So once we have identified those groups, we work to identify the common ancestor among those matches.
And so forensic genetic genealogy allows you to start looking at all of these data points
and all of these potential relatives for an individual that helps you build out a family tree, and ultimately provides
leads that could lead to the possible identity of a person. RODERICK MILLER: In early 2020, I
believe, Sergeant Jason Bartell, he was with the DB Sex Crimes Unit. He was looking at homicides that involved sexual assault,
and he came across Krista Martin. He knew that in 2009, there was DNA submitted to CODIS with no hit.
And he believed this was the perfect case to do genetic genealogy on. The Wichita Police Department had
some DNA left over from the initial crime scene processing. And that DNA, Wichita Police Department
sent to a private lab. They conducted an analysis of that DNA, which we then were able to get a copy of and submit
to consumer genomic sites. And from that point, we can find potential matches, family matches, to the unknown subject
and then begin building a family tree of that unknown subject to try to identify who he or she is.
NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas investigators now believe new forensic science could help them identify the man
who savagely raped and murdered a 20-year-old girl, Krista Martin. At the same time, Krista's family
is reaching out to police. That's next on "Bloodline Detectives". [THEME TONES] [TENSE MUSIC]
NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas, 2020, investigators using the forensic science of genetic genealogy
to try to ID a man who murdered 20-year-old Krista Martin back in 1989. At the very same time, Krista's niece calls out to Wichita
Police to offer her support. EMBER MOORE: I decided to reach out to the police because I had outlived her.
I was 21, and she was 20 when she was murdered. That's just what kind of made me want to reach out to them.
Ember's been the driving force for justice for Krista. Ember has been the one that has poked,
and prodded, and asked a lot of questions over the years. She kind of had this burning desire to get justice
or answers for her aunt. And so I think that's what led her to, kind of, ask more questions of the investigators.
We were working on this case in 2020. But I think she reached out in 2021 with more questions
and asking for more information. I met with detectives several times. And we collected names from some of her friends and, you know,
went and got DNA samples from those people. All the ones that we collected were ruled out.
Her and I would communicate through email from time to time. And, you know, we would keep her up to date as much as we could.
My fear was, I don't want to get you excited until we know something for sure. I don't want you to get excited just to be let back down again.
NANCY GRACE: Some progress is made, but investigators still cannot make a solid match.
RODERICK MILLER: Through the entire investigative process, Adam and Agent Davis, you know, they went to numerous states,
interviewing numerous people, you know, taking voluntary DNA samples, uploading those samples,
just to see how close they are getting within this family tree. DAN HARTY: I did bug Adam quite a bit,
because this case was very important to me and I was hoping to get answers. So anytime I ran into him, I would ask
him for an update on the case. And he would tell me, it's just-- everything was moving kind of slowly, but they
were working, building family trees, and they would keep plugging along. After a year or two, I started thinking, man, I don't
know if we're gonna get it yet. But eventually, he told me that they were getting very close.
And at that point, I started bugging him a little bit more, because I was excited about the direction the case was going.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC] ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: We were told that Othram was the go-to lab,
that they were one of the labs that was premier in this field of genetic genealogy.
We were told that they do fantastic work with limited amounts of DNA. COLBY LASOYNE: When an evidence item, such as skeletal material,
or maybe a blood card, or whatever the case may be is provided, we work to extract DNA.
And we have a process known as a suitability analysis. And that allows us to look at the DNA that has been extracted,
and really understand the characteristics that will help to inform our downstream process.
And that downstream process is the DNA profile development. Forensic-grade genome sequencing is a set
of processes in the lab that allow us to work on every imaginable type of DNA. Once forensic-grade genome sequencing was completed
to develop a DNA profile, that DNA profile was transferred to the FBI's forensic genetic genealogy team.
The FBI's team did their work and their research to determine a name or a possible name
for the individual. And it was in April of 2023, when they reached out and said,
hey, we've been doing some looking into this Hart family. And they're not really from Wichita.
They're from Arkansas, but there is a guy that sticks out in our tree. His name is Paul Hart.
And he lived in Wichita in 1989. [SINISTER MUSIC] I wish I remembered where I was or what I was doing.
But when I heard that, I was like, this is our guy, 'cause what I have learned through genealogy
is it's all about location, location, location. And when you find that person who
is in the location at the time of your murder, that is who you need to look into.
And so when I heard that Paul lived six houses around the corner from Krista at the time of her murder,
I knew that we were on to something. We needed to explore this option, for sure.
It was the break that we had been looking for. NANCY GRACE: Detectives believe they have identified a prime
suspect in the brutal murder of a 20-year-old girl, a beautiful, young girl, Krista Martin.
Is this another dead end? Or have investigators finally caught up with a ruthless killer?
We find out next on "Bloodline Detectives". [THEME MUSIC] [TENSE MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Wichita, Kansas, 2023,
Wichita Police believe they have identified the savage killer of a 20-year-old girl, Krista Martin, murdered in 1989.
The perp's name, Paul Hart. Detectives have a DNA sample from the original crime scene.
They now use the science of investigative genetic genealogy to create a family tree.
They want to see if that tree leads to Paul Hart. When doing forensic genetic genealogy, a lead is developed.
And there needs to be confirmation testing throughout the process to really hone in on the person,
the identity of the individual. So in this particular case, investigators were able to collect samples from relatives of Paul Hart
to help to confirm his identity as the person responsible for Krista's murder. NANCY GRACE: Detectives trying their best
to track down Paul Hart. As they dig deeper, they get devastating news. JONATHAN DAVIS: Paul's name had come up as one
that would fit, potentially. And while we were doing the background of it, that's when Detective Van Der Molen notified me that he had
died in a car accident in 1999. MICHAEL HENNESSY: When I found out the identified suspect
in this case actually died some years ago, it kind of made my heart sunk, you know?
I wanted to know why, you know, how they knew each other, how they met, and why did you have to do this?
And, you know, it was a burning question that most anybody would have, especially for the family.
But it was unfortunate, he got away with something. But he made his demise a little too early.
The suspect was never known to us. He was never on our radar, which kind of explains, you know,
why we couldn't find Krista's killer among her circle of acquaintances. ADAM VAN DER MOLEN: June 13, 2023,
we get the go-ahead to go to Arkansas to meet with the Hart family, to try to track down anybody that's still alive
that would know who Paul was. And so, as you can imagine, for the entire trip down there,
I'm trying to wrap my head around, how can I break this news to this family, right?
Because we've already got one distraught family in Wichita, being Krista Martin's family, and now I'm
getting ready to go break the news to this other family who's getting ready to become completely
blindsided by this information. [OMINOUS MUSIC] His daughter agreed to meet with us.
And when I laid everything out on the table for her, she explained her family history for us.
She explained who her dad was, what her dad did. She was over-the-top cooperative.
Paul's wife wasn't a part of the original interviews that we had done. She wasn't there with her daughter.
And so I gave her my phone number. I said, hey. I said, here's my number. I said, if you talk to your mom and you come up
with any new information or anything that would be beneficial, shoot me a text or give me a call.
And so we're still in Arkansas, doing some more interviews, and my phone is blowing up.
And it's Paul's daughter calling me and texting me, saying, hey, I've talked to my mom.
And it turns out, my dad was a truck driver. He was working for this trucking company in Arkansas
and ran away to Kansas with his boss's wife at the time. Paul's wife provided me with a couple postcards
that Paul and this woman had sent back to his family, with an address here in Kansas, that said that this is
where they had settled down to. And I said, well, they ran to Kansas for what? She said, this lady got a job working on a pig farm in Kansas.
That's how they ended up in Kansas. And so what turns out to be a job that she takes here in Kansas leads them to Wichita.
It was a confirmation that we were looking for, that we knew it no longer was it just, you know, speculation
or a record on a computer that said he was here. It was real-life proof that he was in Kansas
and had some sort of tie to this state, which was the only tie out of all of the thousands of people
that we had looked at, it was the only person that had a tie to Kansas in that time period.
We had gotten a DNA swab from the daughter to put into a consumer genomics website.
We got those results that showed that she was the daughter of our murder suspect.
And so we went back in August of 2023, to this town in Arkansas, to get an actual a buccal swab from the daughter,
from the mother, that we could then compare to do a paternity test in order to confirm that we
have the correct person. And we're able to triangulate those results to show, within 99% certainty, that he
is the father of this female. MICHAEL HENNESSY: We knew enough about the evolution of DNA
back then to know that it's gonna evolve, it's gonna get better. But I had no idea it was gonna get to the point
where it's about a microscopic piece of DNA can identify people just right off the bat.
But I knew that sometime it would come in handy. Years later, it certainly paid off.
RODERICK MILLER: Once we found out that Paul Hart was our suspect, we notified Marc Bennett with the Sedgwick County
District Attorney's Office. And we met with him, told him the facts of the case,
and he concurred that if Mr. Hart was alive today, that he would accept murder charges
and he would file murder charges against Mr. Hart. MARC BENNETT: There's no connection to the two of them
that we could account for. It may have been a crime of opportunity. Perhaps he saw her outside, got her attention.
Maybe he followed her in. But when someone takes the time to sexually assault somebody
and use a blunt instrument of some kind to end their life, there is an element of premeditation to that certainly.
And it certainly would have been something we could have alleged. We would have either charged it as a premeditated murder
or at the very least, what we call a felony murder, which is a homicide, an intentional killing that
takes place during the course of a sexual assault. We met with our city law department,
just to let them know what we've learned during the investigation. We have identified a suspect.
We've met with Mr. Bennett, and we're going to the public and announcing this. And we got the green light from our law department
to proceed with that. And October 2nd of 2023, which is the anniversary, we announced that we had solved the cold case.
[SOMBER MUSIC] JONATHAN DAVIS: You know, a family, not having answers for so long.
At some point, if you feel confident in what happened and knowing what happened, then I
think that can bring some sort of closure to a wound that has been present for 30 years.
EMBER MOORE: I was in shock for a couple of days after that. But yes, I do have--
I do have closure from that. A lot of her friends were given closure and they were happy that it was over.
LEANNA FRAHM: Mentally, it took a toll on me, because like I said, it changed how I perceived people.
I'm always worried something's gonna happen to somebody else in our family. I'm protective of everybody.
And I just want to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again to anybody that I know.
I just think to myself that I'm in the same area that she was at one point, and that makes me smile.
NANCY GRACE: For Ember Moore, the long search for her aunt's killer is finally over, 34 years after it began.
Ember and the Wichita investigators finally know, 100% sure, Paul Hart murdered Krista Martin back in 1989.
Hart is now dead, but a sort of justice is still served. Science and a relentless team of investigators
finally crack a case that may never have been solved. I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us here on "Bloodline Detectives".
[THEME TONES] [THEME MUSIC]

Wichita, Kansas, 1989, 20-year-old Krista Martin is murdered by an intruder. After a 34 year investigation, will investigative genetic genealogy provide answers for her family?

Now in its fifth season, Bloodline Detectives is the leading true crime series that explores how police departments harness genetic genealogy to solve crimes that were once considered "unsolvable," bringing long-awaited answers to victims' families.

Brief Summary

The 1989 murder of Krista Martin is solved through genetic genealogy, identifying Paul Hart as her killer, who died in 1999.

Key points

The Tragic End of Krista Martin. 20-year-old Krista Martin is found dead in her apartment, leading to a decades-long investigation.
The Hunt for a Killer. Wichita Police launch a hunt for Krista's killer, but the case goes cold for years.
The Breakthrough in a Cold Case. In 2023, investigators identify Paul Hart as the prime suspect in Krista Martin's murder.
Closure After 34 Years. Ember Moore finds closure as the case of her aunt's murder is finally solved.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was young and starting to experience life.

Describing Krista Martin's vibrant youth.

0:26WatchMay 18, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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