Sneak peek: Murder at the Mall: The Michelle Martinko Case | Forensic Files

on december 19th 1979 michelle martinko was a 18 year old high school senior she was impossible to miss she had the
big blonde hair [Music] she was that striking she was striking just a smart kind nice person
she was a member of the concert choir they had a banquet which she attended afterwards michelle ended up going to
the mall so did a bunch of her friends from the choir the mall had just opened it was two
months old it was the place to be in cedar rapids at the time so she would have been parked right in
this area yeah she would have been parked facing this direction she left the mall
shortly before it closed to close to 10 pm that night you're talking december in iowa it's
very dark it's very dark michelle walks out and gets in her car this person snuck up on michelle opened
the door and climbed in she was stabbed and cut a total of 29 times this was a real fight it
looks personal it's a lot of stab wounds it's overkill it's always the boyfriend
the girlfriend the husband someone really really close to the person did either of you know
andy seidel i knew andy through michelle that was her boyfriend i took an instant dislike to andy he was
very possessive of michelle i believed andy did it i did not see anything from the men in her life that would give
any of them motive to do something like this i definitely didn't see that from andy
seidel the entire police force dedicated time and energy to try to find answers to
what happened to michelle after a couple of years the leads were starting to dry up
the case then goes cold yeah we really had given up hope we truly had these guys never gave up
the investigation never really stopped i've been through every piece of paper in here
probably close to 8 000 pages of reports here the biggest break came in 2005. the dna was the key we collected dna
from 161 people we were looking for a needle in a haystack we just need to get lucky it took us 13
years until we had a suspect we immediately call up the lab is this our guy what was the answer
yes what are you doing in that moment i don't know what i was doing i was speechless
so do you think he just all these years thought he got away with it well yeah cause he did
you

Michelle Martinko fought for her life in a parking lot. Her attacker was left bleeding — creating the evidence that solved the case. CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas reports for "48 Hours" Saturday, August 7 at 9/8c on CBS.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the 1979 murder of Michelle Martinko and the long investigation leading to a DNA breakthrough in 2005.

Key points

The Tragic Night. Michelle Martinko, an 18-year-old, was brutally attacked in her car after a choir banquet.
A Cold Case. After years of investigation, hope dwindled as leads dried up and the case went cold.
DNA Breakthrough. In 2005, DNA evidence finally led to a suspect after 13 years of searching.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was impossible to miss.

Describing Michelle's striking appearance.

0:10WatchNov 5, 2020

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