Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 18 - Cuyahoga Falls Mystery - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: December 1987, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio the naked body of a young woman
found close to a local music center. RANDY TLUMAC: The only thing present on the body
was a Erieview Catholic High School ring. NANCY GRACE: The victim is 17-year-old Barbara Blatnik
from nearby Garfield Heights. Barbara, brutally raped and murdered. Her body dumped like trash off a country road.
JACK DAVIS: Think early on, they believe that this occurred somewhere else, and this was probably just
where the body was disposed of. NANCY GRACE: Police run out of leads. Barbara's case goes cold.
STEPHANIE WARSMITH: The torch was passed from one set of detectives to the other.
They don't have that many murders in the Falls. And so, the ones that are unsolved,
they want to solve them. NANCY GRACE: But a revolutionary new crime-fighting tool will
ultimately make a difference. MALACHI HURSH: We've had others where DNA was used
and things like this. But for it to be as old of a case as it was, was eye opening.
NANCY GRACE: This is the story of the murder of beautiful, young Barbara Blatnik,
and how, after 35 long years, advanced science of genetic genealogy finally leads investigators
to Barbara's killer. I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING]
NANCY GRACE: December 1987, just five days before Christmas-- Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio is just north of Akron.
People all over the state getting ready for Christmas holidays when an oil worker makes
a gruesome Christmas discovery. MALACHI HURSH: Someone had discovered a new body that was
dumped at Blossom Music Center. It was off of a access road, O'Neil Road. RANDY TLUMAC: An oil worker by the name of Rodney Cline
was checking gas well heads. JAMES RENNER: He comes across this nude woman's body
lying face down, and gets out to see what's going on. Saw the body of a young girl, lifeless at the time.
Fortunately called the police, and the officers went out there to investigate. NANCY GRACE: Police raced to the scene
and launched their investigation. JACK DAVIS: First thing they would have done was probably secure the scene and make
sure that there wasn't a lot of people trampling around out there. They would have taken steps again to preserve
the body and any evidence that might have been found on the body. JAMES RENNER: DNA was in their minds in 1987,
but it was still kind of new. And the first case to use DNA to lead to a criminal conviction
was actually that year. RANDY TLUMAC: It did not appear that she had been dragged
from the road, but rather carried and placed there in that position. JACK DAVIS: They interviewed the person
that found him, trying to find out, you know, how the last time he had been out there, when did he see it,
did he see any vehicles, did he hear anything. Then they would have canvased the area.
It's a pretty rural area. Not a lot of homes and stuff in the area. NANCY GRACE: Police also searched the area
where Barbara's body is found for clues. MALACHI HURSH: They walked the entirety of O'Neil Road
in the woods where she was located, and didn't find any clothing whatsoever in that search.
JAMES RENNER: They would have been looking for tire prints. This is not someplace that you could have just wandered to.
Somebody had to dump her body. The coroner, Dr. Cox, arrived on scene. He examined the body.
And he pointed out that she appeared to have ligature marks around her neck. MALACHI HURSH: Looked like she was struck in the head.
There was blood around her vagina in that area, as well. So they assume that there was a sexual assault.
RANDY TLUMAC: The victim was wearing long, dangly earrings in her ear with a turquoise-colored stone.
She has earrings on one ear. The other ear, it's torn as if perhaps someone has torn the earring out.
She has a tattoo on her shoulder. RANDY TLUMAC: Other than earrings, the only thing
present on the body was a Erieview Catholic High School ring. JAMES RENNER: The ring was important
because that's how they were able to quickly figure out who this woman was, because the ring was
a school ring. When the ring was removed, they found an inscription on the inside--
the name, Barb Blatnik. NANCY GRACE: Soon, police identify the victim as teen girl, Barbara Blatnik.
She lives in Garfield Heights, just 30 miles away from where her body is found. JAMES RENNER: Barbara was a free spirit.
She was not getting along with her parents so well. She was a rebel, and she always was.
She had lived in two worlds, however. She had her friends from high school, her girlfriends.
But then, she had an older crowd. MALACHI HURSH: Not uncommon for her not to be home or be heard for a little bit of time.
She liked to go out and hang out with friends and go to parties and things like that.
NANCY GRACE: When the crime scene investigation concludes, Barbara Blatnik's body removed by the local medical examiner.
The autopsy reveals material under Barbara's fingernails. JAMES RENNER: The fingernails seem to have material in them
as if she fought back against her attacker, which a lot of victims in that situation will do.
RANDY TLUMAC: Dr. Cox collected anal and vaginal and oral swabs. He sent two of those out to a lab that was doing DNA
testing, which was in its infancy at the time. However, the results came back that one of the samples
was packaged wrong and was unusable. And the other sample did not have enough DNA
molecular weight for analysis. JACK DAVIS: The medical examiner at the time wanted to try to find out more evidence from her hand.
There was some writing on her hand, so they had actually severed her hand and sent it off to be investigated.
RANDY TLUMAC: You could just see light ink dots. But the photograph and the methods they used there,
they were able to discern some numbers and some words. Through investigation, we determined
it was most likely Barb writing down the phone number for the taxi service. And then, there were three names that
appear to be names of movies-- Alien, raw, and natural were written on the bottom of her palm.
But again, we can't be sure as to what the significance of any of that was. NANCY GRACE: Police arrive at Barbara's family home
to break the horrible news to the Blatnik family. They contacted John Blatnik, who was Barb's father.
He did identify the body as his daughter. And then, from that point, our detectives
escorted him back home where they broke the news to the remaining family members.
MALACHI HURSH: Death notifications is one of the harder parts of the job. It's not easy to sit down, especially with a parent, let
alone any other family member, and tell them a loved one has died. NANCY GRACE: Investigators know they've got
a vicious killer on the loose. As we see next on "Bloodline Detectives," they've got to work fast to track this guy down.
[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: December 1987, Summit County, Ohio-- police desperately trying to track down
the killer of a teen girl, Barbara Blatnik. Her naked body found a few days earlier near Cuyahoga Falls.
Barbara had been raped and strangled. Police must find out more about her, Barbara,
and establish what happened the night she was murdered. The first thing that the detectives would have done
is to try to retrace Barbara's steps up to how she ended up at Blossom Music Center.
NANCY GRACE: Teen girl, Barbara Blatnik, had been dating a man named Jerry Stean.
His behavior towards Barbara had been very disturbing for Barbara's family. They went back and looked at the night before.
They tracked down friends to find out who she was with-- who she was partying with--
and her boyfriend at the time, this guy, Jerry. We talked with all Barb's closest friends.
They talked with Jerry, his parents, Barb's parents. They went around to each of the locations
where Barb was at, because she was kind of party hopping, I would say, that night going from different place to place.
So they went out and spoke with all the people that were there. While she was out at one of the parties, a girlfriend
of hers by the name of Sheila, overheard Barb talking about an older man that she had been dating.
He was 23 years old at the time. And Sheila spoke up and said, why are you so interested
in hanging with Jerry. He was talking behind your back. He said some disparaging things about her.
And her friends told us that, from that point on, she was trying to contact Jerry using the payphones,
trying to contact him without success. RANDY TLUMAC: When the bar closed, she and two girlfriends and two guys
from the bar that her girlfriends knew, gave Barbara rides. She wanted to dropped off near Jerry's house.
She wanted to go talk to him about the mean thing she had heard he was saying about her.
NANCY GRACE: Barbara Blatnik dropped off by her friends, close to her boyfriend's home.
RANDY TLUMAC: Right there at the corner, there used to be a bar there called the Penny Arcade.
Barbara's last seen around 2:30-3:30 AM. Her body was discovered around 8:00 AM.
And Dr. Cox, who was the coroner that came out to the scene, estimated that her body was dumped two to three hours prior
to her being found, and then two to three hours prior to that is when the death occurred.
NANCY GRACE: It's SOP-- standard-operating procedure in a case like this-- that teen girl, Barbara Blatnik's on-and-off boyfriend,
Jerry Stean is an obvious person of interest. The way he treated Barbara in the past
already raises red flags with Barbara's family. RANDY TLUMAC: Barb's dad told us of an incident at one time
where Jerry pulled up with Barb, and Barb got out of the car and went in the house.
And he threw her purse out the window in the yard and yelled something and left.
MALACHI HURSH: Typically, in homicides and murders and these type of investigations,
the overwhelming majority is the person knows their killer. RANDY TLUMAC: He went to the Garfield
Heights Police Station, where our detectives interviewed him. He voluntarily let them search his car.
JAMES RENNER: The boyfriend says he never saw her that night. If she did arrive, he was sleeping and she tried to knock
and he didn't hear. They also had talked to some people who said that Jerry was jealous that he saw Barb in a car
with a male friend giving her a ride home from school. And he became angry at her for that.
NANCY GRACE: But Jerry Stean is quickly ruled out as a suspect. RANDY TLUMAC: It was determined through talking to Jerry's mom
and dad and his brother that Jerry was home by about 11:30, and was in bed by midnight.
Jerry's dad said that the telephone rang about 4:00 in the morning. And it was a girl asking for Jerry, and he just hung up.
And a couple of minutes later, it rang again a few times, but nobody answered it.
NANCY GRACE: Investigators working hard, but all their leads dry up. The case goes cold.
JACK DAVIS: Back in the late '80s when they were investigating this, they had done the interviews.
They had found alibis. They kind of ruled out all their main suspects. They didn't really have anything much more to go on.
You get exhausted. You've just done everything that you can do on this particular case.
And then, you just hope that there's some new information that comes out. NANCY GRACE: Teen girl, Barbara Blatnik's killer
remains at large on the loose. But new developments in DNA forensics can catch up with him.
That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: 2004, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio--
police reopen the cold case of teen girl, Barbara Blatnik. Barbara was raped and murdered December 1987.
Her naked body thrown away like trash near a local music center. Detective Randy Tlumac of the Cuyahoga Police Department
leads the new investigation. My partner and I got the OK to reinvestigate the case
basically from the beginning. MALACHI HURSH: I didn't know much about the case when I first got involved--
just that there was a cold case that they were going to be getting some new tips on.
NANCY GRACE: The team's first job is to re-examine all the evidence dating back to 1987.
RANDY TLUMAC: I went and reviewed our evidence files to see what we had in evidence, what testing had been done,
and if any new testing could be redone. And we went down through the boxes of evidence in this case.
And we were able to locate every single item except for the biological samples that had been collected
by Dr. Cox at the autopsy, which would have included a blood sample, a hair sample from Barb, fingernail clippings
and scrapings. We searched all the other boxes from different cases, in case something had been misplaced.
NANCY GRACE: The cold case team now has a very big problem. Some of the most crucial evidence from 1987
has gone missing. Detectives now must rely on tips and anonymous leads. Well, that's a bad start.
JAMES RENNER: As a journalist living in Northeast Ohio, every other year, you would see a story about Barbara Blatnik.
STEPHANIE WARSMITH: They still wanted to solve it. And every now and then, they would
brush it off and take another look, see if there was a new approach. NANCY GRACE: In 2014, the cold case
team gets a very lucky break. RANDY TLUMAC: I was asked to help the property clerk move
some heavy items as the property room was full and expanding, and they would be moving to a bigger location.
In the very back of the room, there was an old refrigerator that the department used to keep rape
evidence collection kits in. And the refrigerator was in a corner of the room, and it was blocked by a large shelving unit.
You couldn't even open the door. When we got it cleaned out, I opened the door and the refrigerator was empty.
The second crisper drawer I opened, there was a brown, grocery-type bag in there
with an evidence tag on and the name, Blatnik. NANCY GRACE: Detectives hope this
may be the crucial evidence from nearly 30 years ago. RANDY TLUMAC: When I opened it up
and I saw that all the individual items were in there, sealed up by Dr. Cox in their original packages
from the autopsy, I was like, this is great. This is going to be our best chance to come
to a conclusion with this case. NANCY GRACE: Investigators now apply 21st century forensic science to a 30-year-old case.
RANDY TLUMAC: I submitted it to the Ohio BCI, and I was informed that they've got an unknown male DNA profile
from under Barb's fingernails. NANCY GRACE: The unknown male DNA found under teen girl,
Barbara Blatnik's fingernails is submitted to CODIS, the national DNA databank. Detectives hope and pray for a match.
RANDY TLUMAC: Within a week or two, I was informed that there was no match. NANCY GRACE: CODIS is the FBI database.
It contains thousands and thousands of DNA profiles. If the DNA found under Barbara Blatnik's fingernails
belongs to someone in CODIS, there's a good chance investigators will get a match.
But it's only a chance. CODIS is great. But it's very limited on any sort of matches
you can get because the killer, the offender, has to have been incarcerated before,
or arrested for a felony. JACK DAVIS: So once again, it kind of led to a dead end.
But now, at least the profile was out there in case something would hit CODIS and would match.
NANCY GRACE: Detectives still frustrated. But there's one positive outcome in the case,
thanks to the new DNA evidence. RANDY TLUMAC: At that time, by 2014, I learned that Jerry had passed away of natural causes.
I did submit the DNA sample I had collected from him years earlier, and learned that that was not a match.
I think that it would have been really, really difficult knowing that he was one of the suspects
that they looked at initially, and that there would always be that question and that kind of cloud
hanging over them. NANCY GRACE: Then, in 2018, investigators get unexpected help from a new source.
JACK DAVIS: I had gotten the email from the retired Garfield Heights chief. And he was working with James Renner
at a project called Porchlight Project. And he had asked if we would have any interest in using
this technology for Barbara Blatnik's case, because obviously, Barbara, being from Garfield Heights,
you know, I'm sure this chief wanted to see it solved as much as we did. The world changed in 2018 with the arrest and capture
of the Golden State Killer. And I remember watching this play out on TV and realizing that this is big.
This is a game changer-- in fact, genetic genealogy. It's the first new tool that police
have had since the discovery of how to use DNA in a criminal case in 1987. I looked up Porchlight Project to see what it was.
And then, I talked to my lieutenant that was running my detective bureau at the time, and said, why don't
we reach out and I mean, let's look into this a little bit more. Jack Davis called me in for a meeting,
and Alexa and I went and kind of walk them through what we thought we could accomplish
with genetic genealogy, and explain to them how it worked and the labs that we would use, and then,
the genetic genealogist and her background. I think at that point, you know, they really
didn't have anything to lose. And the fact that we were funding everything meant that they weren't out of pocket.
So they decided to roll the dice. NANCY GRACE: NANCY GRACE: Using genetic genealogy
requires very carefully preserved samples. And in this case, those samples are from the original autopsy.
Detectives hold their breath while they wait to see if the samples will work after 33 long years.
When we get DNA from an agency, either related to a violent offense or a John or Jane Doe,
we send it to the lab. And the lab makes an electronic copy of the DNA. And then, once they have that, we
pick out the markers we need to make what we call a kit or a database for GEDmatch.
JAMES RENNER: Over the years, people wanting to connect with distant family members, and people
interested in general genealogy, have amassed these great databases where you can upload your DNA.
And the algorithm will do its magic and point you to somebody that's likely your second cousin.
So if you happen to find somebody in the database that shares 50% of the DNA with your unknown person,
they have to be a parent or a child, maybe a sibling. So once you know that, you can look at who they are
and then you can solve the case. That would be the ideal situation. NANCY GRACE: The sample detectives have is not ideal.
Why? Because the sample is actually a mixture of Barbara Blatnik's DNA, along with the DNA of her killer.
JAMES RENNER: They got DNA samples from Barb's sister and from her father. And with all that extra data, essentially,
what they were able to do is on the data points that matched Barb, they were able to filter out.
And what remained was all this data that lines up with the killer's DNA. COLLEEN FITZPATRICK: So what we had to do
is also process Barbara's reference sample, take an electronic copy of her DNA, and in software,
subtract them to get the genealogy data just for the killer. NANCY GRACE: An incredible forensic breakthrough--
Barbara Blatnik's DNA was separated from her killer's DNA. But now, detectives must find a match.
If we find a brother and sister, there's only one way that that brother and sister
can be related to our unknown. If we find a first cousin, there's two ways. It could be on mom's side or dad's side.
If we find a second cousin, there's four ways. It could be a mom-mom, mom-dad, dad-mom, dad-dad side.
So we're coming up with even third cousins. So what we did-- we built those trees out.
We saw where they connected. We built them back to the present. RANDY TLUMAC: Our most likely suspect
was one of four brothers of Zastawnik family from the Cleveland area. MALACHI HURSH: They live right across the street from Barb's
boyfriend at the time. Some of the brothers in the Zastawnik family were friends with the Steans.
They kind of ran in the same circles at that time-- you know, everyone knew everyone, kind of a thing.
It was a little bit different than it is now. NANCY GRACE: Detectives narrow the possible suspects down
to four brothers-- their last name, Zastawnik. RANDY TLUMAC: We learned that one of the brothers
was deceased. He had been in prison on a charge of kidnapping and rape. His DNA was on file in the CODIS database,
so we knew right away, he wasn't our man because it was not a match. We would have gotten a hit.
Another brother was living in Indiana. MALACHI HURSH: He had a history of sexual assault.
He was a convicted child molester. MALACHI HURSH: So he, in my mind, became the primary suspect who I thought
would be most likely to commit the death of Barb. The next brother we looked into was James.
We saw that James did have a criminal history with some type of indecent exposure and things like that-- so
of a sexual nature in itself. But his DNA was not in CODIS that we found. NANCY GRACE: Detectives are also highly suspicious,
because the youngest brother disappears the same date as Barbara's disappearance, December 19.
He went missing on the anniversary date of our girl's death. MALACHI HURSH: Piqued our interest.
Seemed a little strange that he just went missing. And his DNA wasn't on file. We didn't find much of a criminal history for him.
RANDY TLUMAC: We spoke to his wife, and it was learned that she went to work and came home,
and his ID, car keys, medication were left on the table. And he was never seen or heard from again.
NANCY GRACE: Investigators ID the four Zastawnik brothers as prime suspects in Barbara's murder.
But now, they must obtain each brother's DNA samples-- that's, from the three brothers that are still alive.
RANDY TLUMAC: We managed to get a DNA sample from the missing brother. He had a partial dental plate that he left.
And she had kept it in the case that he kept it in ever since he went missing. She gave us.
That we did get a DNA profile off of that for him. NANCY GRACE: Detectives get a search warrant.
And then, they visit one of the brothers, James Zastawnik, who, like Barbara, lives in Garfield Heights.
MALACHI HURSH: Tlumac and I went to his address in the Cleveland area, and spoke with James there.
We kind of ran everything by him about Barb. We asked him if he knew or remembered
anything about this case. JACK DAVIS: Had no clue who Barbara Blatnik was. Seemed to vaguely remember something about the case,
you know, being from the area. But really had no admissions to anything. Nothing to hide.
RANDY TLUMAC: A lot of people that we interviewed said that this was a big deal in Garfield
Heights at the time. Unsolved homicide posters put up. Crime Stoppers had posters put up in every bar, storefront.
It was on the news. It was in all the local papers. Tlumac and I talked. We thought it was a very strange interaction, no emotion,
and with him saying he didn't know much about the case. He wasn't going to come down without an attorney, which
any attorney worth his salt wouldn't let anybody suspected of a homicide answer any questions.
And we knew that. So we took our DNA sample, and at that time we left. NANCY GRACE: Investigators closing in on a killer.
The DNA samples from all three living brothers, named Zastawnik, now being tested,
compared to scrapings found under Barbara's fingernails. That's next on "Bloodline Detectives."
[MUSIC PLAYING] 2018, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-- police closing in on the killer of a teen girl,
Barbara Blatnik. Barbara's unsolved rape and murder-- December 1987-- still haunts the city.
Investigators have honed in on suspects, now to one of four brothers-- last name, Zastawnik.
The oldest brother that we got in the list of four that fit the criteria-- his DNA was already in CODIS.
And with the DNA being put in CODIS in 2016, we didn't receive a match. So we knew he wasn't a match for the DNA.
RANDY TLUMAC: Another brother was living in Indiana. He was a convicted child molester.
Another brother was living in Cleveland. He had been arrested a couple of times for exposing himself and masturbating
to women in public. Fourth brother was entered as a missing person Since he was missing, we couldn't
get the physical DNA from him. But we spoke with his wife, and she was able to provide us
with a dental plate and a pair of glasses, which would have been sufficient to get the DNA off of.
NANCY GRACE: The mystery finally solved with a phone call from the DNA lab. She said it was a match to James Zastawnik.
NANCY GRACE: Investigators now want to know much more about James Zastawnik. RANDY TLUMAC: Back in 1987, he was living literally
around the corner from where Barb was dropped off in front of the Penny Arcade. NANCY GRACE: Police secure warrants
and move to arrest James Zastawnik in Garfield Heights. RANDY TLUMAC: We asked him, why would
we find, on her body, your DNA? MALACHI HURSH: If you can imagine two detectives standing
on your front porch in your house in a residential neighborhood, telling you you're a murderer and a rapist.
And you know, we spoke loudly to where the neighbors could hear. And just, no reaction whatsoever from him.
Just stone-faced. No, wasn't me. Couldn't have been me. NANCY GRACE: James Zastawnik remains
cool, calm under questioning, and continues to plead his innocence. RANDY TLUMAC: And finally at the point
where he saw where this was going, he said, so, do I have to call an attorney? Am I under arrest or what?
And I looked at Detective Hursh, and I told him-- I said, yeah, open the door-- because he
had the screen door locked. And he turned and said, oh, wait. I need to go back in the house to lock it up.
And we told him-- we like, stop right there. And I told him he was under arrest for the murder
of Barbara Blatnik. NANCY GRACE: Police now charged James Zastawnik with Barbara Blatnik's murder.
MALACHI HURSH: Once we brought him back to the police department, all the interviews were done.
He was just brought down to our booking, ran through our booking, fingerprint, DNA--
things like that, we collected. Then, he was transported to the Summit County Jail.
NANCY GRACE: Then, James Zastawnik does something that takes everyone by surprise.
JAMES RENNER: James ends up in jail, and he calls his sister. And he tells his sister a very different story than he
told the police that day. He says that he was with Barbara the night that she was murdered, that he saw her
on the corner of Warner and Grand Division, where she was dropped off. So he had that piece.
He knew where she was. And in his version, he says he stopped to see if she needed a ride.
And she asked him if he lived nearby-- and he did at the time-- and if she could come over and use the phone.
She came over, used the phone. He says, got into an angry conversation and slammed the phone down, which I believe is a lie--
an outright lie-- because nobody heard from her that night. And then, he tells his sister that, well, one thing
led to another, and we had sex. The fact that she was upset that she couldn't get
a hold of Jerry and was crying, and then would jump into bed and have sex with this older man--
I don't think that is a reasonable storyline of what happened. I think the first part of James Zastawnik's story
is probably accurate. I bet he stopped and offered her a ride. It was around the time, I think, that he got off work.
RANDY TLUMAC: I think that James tried to come on to her. And she's the woman that slapped him.
And he just lost it at that point. JAMES RENNER: James Zastawnik essentially confessed to the killing on that jailhouse phone.
He puts himself with Barb, explains the DNA, and then he picked her up. That, to me, would be good enough for any jury.
Shortly after he made that statement, his sister-- I believe it was-- in the conversation said, well, don't say anything else.
Don't tell me any more stories. You can tell me all about it when we see each other again.
NANCY GRACE: Finally, after 35 long, agonizing years, Barbara Blatnik's family gets the phone
call they've been waiting for. MALACHI HURSH: Tlumac made the calls to Barr's family.
Over the time that he was working on the investigation, he knew Donna pretty well.
So he was the one that called. RANDY TLUMAC: She asked to be notified first, because her father was in poor health.
So I called her and I told her-- I said, yes, we made an arrest. And I could just hear her sobbing on the other end.
This really just destroyed their family. They were devastated by it. JAMES RENNER: At the time, she had been
waiting 33 years for an answer. Her father was getting older. And she was able to finally give him the answer
that he was waiting for all these years-- who killed his daughter. It finally looks like investigators have cornered
Barbara Blatnik's killer. They have an arrest and a solid DNA match to the victim.
But as we see next on "Bloodline Detectives," that whole scenario is about to come crashing down.
[MUSIC PLAYING] 2019, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-- investigators arrest and jail suspect, James Zastawnik,
in the murder and rape of teen girl, Barbara Blatnik, 33 years earlier. But their case suddenly takes a very unexpected turn
because of the COVID epidemic. James Zastawnik released from jail on just $35,000 bail!
JAMES RENNER: In Ohio, we have a ticking clock. If somebody is in jail and can't get out on bond,
you have to bring them to trial within a certain length of time. And they knew because of COVID, that they wouldn't
be able to reach that deadline. So in order to keep the case from falling apart,
they had to essentially give James Zastawnik the ability to get out of jail. He had cancer.
And when he was out-- and when he was out on bond, he lived with his brother. We were notified that he had go to the hospital,
because he was on GPS monitor and things of this nature. NANCY GRACE: Two years go by while James
Zastawnik is out on bail. August 24, 2021, cops get a call they have been fearing.
The detectives were still working with the prosecutors on making sure the case and the way
they were going to present it and everything was being done. And then, we were notified that he had passed away.
JAMES RENNER: We were cheated from the right ending to this story, where James Zastawnik would be found
guilty, handcuffed, and led to prison for the rest of his short life. NANCY GRACE: The news comes as a blow
to Barbara Blatnik's relatives. JAMES RENNER: I know that Donna wanted him to go to trial.
I know that she wanted the opportunity to look at him in court and to tell him the impact that his actions have had on her life
and her family's life. And that's something that she didn't get. NANCY GRACE: Barbara Blatnik's family,
along with investigators, wonder, can there ever be justice now that James Zastawnik
will never face a trial? JAMES RENNER: There's not a doubt in my mind he's responsible for the murder.
And he got to spend the remaining year and a half of his life knowing that he was caught,
and that couldn't have been pleasant. So in a way, he got justice in the end. And I think it--
I think there's a certain amount of closure to that. NANCY GRACE: Barbara Blatnik's murder would never
have been solved without the perseverance of Cuyahoga Falls detectives, and without the timely help
of the Porchlight Foundation. Listening to them explain it, and the steps that they take--
it was fascinating to me. I mean, I'm super impressed by the work that they did.
STEPHANIE WARSMITH: I think that forensic genealogy was the key to this case. And if it hadn't been for it, then it might still remain
one of those unsolved murders. NANCY GRACE: The investigation into teen girl, Barbara Blatnik's rape and murder
needed and found an incredible forensic science weapon-- genetic genealogy. That weapon brought science to a whole new level.
The Bloodline Detectives found the key to unlock a mixed DNA sample, like the sample found
under Barbara's fingernails. In the future, investigators can now solve even more cases, even
cases that stretch 35 years back into time, even cases whose only clue is mixed DNA.
I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us here on "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]

December 1987 in Ohio, the nude body of 17-year-old Barbara Blatnik is found face down on a rural road. She had been violently raped and strangled.

A compelling new True Crime series, hosted by preeminent legal analyst and renowned former prosecutor Nancy Grace, that explores the advanced form of familial DNA testing.

Brief Summary

Barbara Blatnik's murder was solved 35 years later through DNA evidence, but her killer died before trial.

Key points

The Discovery of Barbara Blatnik. In December 1987, the body of 17-year-old Barbara Blatnik is found, sparking a cold case.
Cold Case Reopened. In 2004, police reopen the cold case of Barbara Blatnik, seeking new leads.
Genetic Genealogy Breakthrough. In 2018, detectives use genetic genealogy to potentially identify Barbara's killer.
James Zastawnik Arrested. Investigators arrest James Zastawnik, linking him to Barbara Blatnik's murder through DNA evidence.
Unexpected Turn in Case. Due to COVID, James Zastawnik is released on bail, complicating the case further.
Tragic News for Family. Barbara Blatnik's family receives devastating news about James Zastawnik's passing.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Her body dumped like trash off a country road.

Describing the discovery of Barbara Blatnik's body.

0:39WatchJun 1, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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