The Shocking Murder of Darlene Krashoc | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace | Forensic Files

[THEME MUSIC] NANCY GRACE: Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1987. 20-year-old Army specialist Darlene
Krashoc is on a night out with friends in the military. JESSICA VELTRI: Towards the end of that night,
she told her friends that she wanted to stay. When they were saying, hey, we want to go.
It's time to leave now. And she said, hey, don't worry about me. I'll get a ride.
And unfortunately, that was the last time they saw her alive. NANCY GRACE: Early the next morning, police discover
a gruesome crime scene. I've experienced, despite thousands of death investigations.
I've seen very few that compare to the brutality of this one. For more than 30 years, police cannot
find Darlene Krashoc's killer. Now, the power of forensic genetic genealogy might just crack this case.
I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives." [THEME MUSIC] Colorado Springs, 1987.
A sprawling community one hour south of Denver. 20-year-old Darlene Krashoc, a young soldier
stationed at Fort Carson, a US Army post located just south of the city. BEN HOSTETTER: Krash was her nickname
there at the Army base. Speaking with anybody that knew Darlene, you could tell that she was definitely full of life
and just a wonderful person. NANCY GRACE: It's March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day.
A huge storm hits Colorado Springs. Darlene Krashoc gets off work early. She and her fellow soldiers decide to go out and celebrate.
Ended up at a bar called Shuffles. The Shuffles nightclub that's on Academy Boulevard here in Colorado Springs.
JESSICA VELTRI: That night she was drinking and dancing with some friends and with some other folks that
were at the bar. Towards the end of that night, she told her friends that she wanted to stay when they were saying, hey,
we want to go. It's time to leave now. And she said, hey, don't worry about me. I'll get a ride.
I'll walk home. And they were reluctant, but ultimately, they agreed to leave her there.
And unfortunately, that was the last time they saw her alive. NANCY GRACE: Friends leave Darlene Krashoc there
at the bar. But just a few hours later, two Colorado Springs police officers on routine patrol
make a horrible discovery. JOSEPH EDEN: They were patrolling an area that was a high crime area for other types
of crimes, robberies, burglaries, and things like that. They just happened to be going down an alleyway at about 5:00
in the morning on that very cold next morning. And when they were driving down that alley,
they looked up next to a dumpster and they saw what they believed to be a mannequin laying
out next to the dumpster. So they parked their police cruiser, they got out and walked over.
And when they walked over, they realized immediately that it was not a mannequin.
That it was the body of the victim, of Darlene, there on the ground before them.
And they found her body and immediately secured the scene. They checked to see if Darlene had vital signs,
and she did not. Once they determined that she was deceased, they made the notifications.
And the homicide unit was activated to respond and continue the investigation. LEON KELLY: One of the more kind of violent scenes
that I've ever been involved in. She is found partially nude. She has multiple patterned abrasions on her body
that are consistent with the bite marks, scratches, as well as blunt force trauma.
After Darlene's body was discovered, they cordoned off the area. Officers were able to determine pretty early on that they
suspected that she was not killed behind that Korean club restaurant, they believe that she was
thrown from a moving vehicle. They were able to determine that because of the snowstorm
that had happened in the area. There were tire marks that led up to it, the body was there,
and tire marks that had led away from the crime scene along with three cigarette butts that they
had found there as well. They don't believe the attack actually happened there because there was no other signs
of a struggle or sexual assault, or blood actually in the snow itself. We're not sure if she was actually killed somewhere else
and it was just that her body was taken there because it was a secluded area, and then dumped out.
We don't know if maybe the killer drove to that location, sexually assaulted her in his vehicle, and then strangled her
or killed her, and dumped her right away. The homicide detectives that show up on that scene,
they want to make sure that scene is preserved as well as possible. NANCY GRACE: News of the brutal crime
quickly spreads through Colorado Springs. Investigators focus on Darlene Krashoc's movements
the night she's murdered. JOE SOMOSKY: There are a lot of elements of the crime from Darlene Krashoc's murder
that created unease in the community just because of the unknown nature of the perpetrator.
If that person was still in the community, had they committed crimes in the past, will
they commit more crimes of similar nature in the future. BEN HOSTETTER: The other thing that
stood out to me was how many members of the public just came forward. I mean, this was a heavy impact on the community as a whole.
And many of the individuals that had contact with Darlene contacted the authorities themselves, and said,
hey, I remember her, I saw her at this club. Or, you know, I danced with her. There was one individual that came forward and was like, hey,
I even got her phone number. I mean, a lot of people came forward. All of those people participated with the investigation.
Particularly, that was most helpful is that they collected DNA samples from all of those individuals, which is pretty
impressive given this was 1987. And DNA, at that point, wasn't terribly prevalent.
But all of those individuals volunteered that. The detectives that handled it back in 1987
laid the framework for this case in a very, very good manner. Can Colorado Springs detectives
use the few clues they have to bring them one step closer to Darlene Krashoc's killer?
That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [AUDIO LOGO] Colorado Springs, Colorado. March 16, 1987.
The night before St. Patrick's Day, 20-year-old Darlene Krashoc out having drinks and fun with fellow soldiers
from nearby Fort Carson. Her friends go home, but Darlene stays, having fun. Just a few hours later, police, out on routine patrol,
find Darlene Krashoc brutally murdered. They immediately examine the scene for any clues left behind.
JOSEPH EDEN: They'll put up crime scene tape, they'll make sure that nobody can come into the scene
or leave the scene. The body actually isn't touched by any of the homicide detectives until after the coroner comes and clears
that piece of evidence. And even then, typically, the body won't be touched by the detectives until the autopsy,
if it's touched at all. The reason for that is that the body is actually considered
legally the property of the coroner, really at that point in time. And so the detectives can't go and manipulate
the body in any way without permission of the coroner first. JIM ISHAM: The crime scene investigators after arriving
on scene, their first priority is collecting that evidence, preserving it, keeping the integrity of the evidence
so it doesn't get destroyed. So you can imagine that crime scene just the size of it
being on the back side of a strip mall. They basically searched back and front. They're going to note anything as far as cars that might have
been parked when they arrived. They're going to photograph everything. They're going to collect all the evidence.
They're going to start knocking on the business doors saying, hey, this is what we discovered.
When were you here last? When did you shut your business down? Conducting all those necessary interviews to try
to narrow a timeline down. Being in the winter, the wind was blowing, there were snow on the ground.
So some of those items of evidence needed to be collected in a timely fashion so they weren't blown off into the snow,
or snow didn't melt and contaminate the evidence, and the crime scene was well protected.
Those initial detectives and the crime scene investigators did a phenomenal job collecting and preserving the evidence.
JOE SOMOSKY: Other than the physical evidence that would support the theory of a sexually motivated homicide,
an identification card was found that identified the deceased as Darlene Krashoc.
We're looking for things that would allow us to tie who came to that scene and dropped the body.
But also the body itself, can we use it than to find evidence that not only tie her to the perpetrator,
but maybe to the perpetrator's vehicle, or the scene or the location which she was originally
killed. And so that's part of the responsibility at the scene in this case. It's for the coroner to come, identify the body,
look at what kind of weapons, what kind of issues, what kind of trace evidence we may be looking for on the body that
could help link the perpetrator, as well as maybe the location where she was actually murdered.
LAURI MARTIN: One of the pieces of evidence that they had found at the crime scene
was three cigarette butts. And detectives were able to determine that whoever dumped
her body there decided to smoke a few cigarettes before dumping her off. Like, who would do that?
Just so blatantly not care about what actually happened. Investigators know Darlene Krashoc suffered an extremely
violent death at the hands of a sadistic killer, but very few solid clues left behind.
As it happens so often in cases much like this, homicide detectives pinned their hopes on the medical examiner's
autopsy. LEON KELLY: The autopsy indicates that Darlene was strangled. The ligatures are still present around her neck.
She's got multiple ligature marks across her neck telling us that that's how she was held and restrained,
and then ultimately strangled. She also has multiple blunt force injuries. Blows to her face, her head, her body, her extremities.
An incredibly violent and protracted or prolonged assault that resulted in numerous injuries.
Careful examination of the body in this case reveals circular pattern, abrasions,
or scrapes that are consistent with what we know as to be bite marks. Now historically, in this period of time,
bite marks would have been used to try to identify the perpetrator themselves, to try to match their teeth
to the body to the injuries. NANCY GRACE: The autopsy does provide insight into the terrible trauma of Darlene's
fight for her life. The autopsy reveals multiple defensive injuries, which are injuries that are sustained
when someone's fighting back against the perpetrator. Darlene has multiple bruises, scrapes,
and scratches of her forearm. She has injuries consistent with those bite marks on her extremities as she's trying
to force the person off of her. She also has what appear to be injuries consistent with bite
marks of her nipple. So an incredibly violent attack. But this is an individual that fought
back to her greatest ability. Colorado Springs Police asked military investigators
from Fort Carson for their help. After all, Darlene Krashoc spent her last night alive partying
out with fellow soldiers. So the US Army Criminal Investigation Division, CID, searches within the military for a possible suspect.
JOE SOMOSKY: The Army's Criminal Investigation Division worked hand in hand with us from beginning.
CID agents from the army worked with our homicide detectives. They paired up, they split resources.
And the Army Nexus helped because the army was able to make soldiers be present for these interviews.
Whereas in the civilian side, a lot of times, people will avoid us. They won't answer calls, they won't answer their door,
they won't speak to us at work, things like that. Where in the army, I know you have to follow orders.
And a lot of times, this was such a big deal in active duty soldier being murdered in the community,
especially in this fashion. NANCY GRACE: Statistics show most murder victims actually know their killer
in one way or another. So Colorado Springs detectives and military investigators
focus on Darlene's close circle of friends. There was no evidence that the victim in this case
was in any kind of a dispute with anybody, or that she had been fighting with anybody,
or was enemies with anybody like that. She was engaged at the time, but her fiance
was down in military training. And so they knew that he had a solid alibi. There was no way that he could have
possibly even been in the area. And on top of that, he would have had no motive for the murder either.
She did have an ex-husband. She had been recently divorced. But by all accounts, that divorce
was relatively amicable. They didn't have any issues. I know that he had another solid alibi as well.
And so those two first obvious leads went away very quickly. NANCY GRACE: Investigators use standard operating procedure.
They retrace Darlene Krashoc last movements just before the night she was out with her friends.
JOSEPH EDEN: One of the things that detectives did was essentially tracked down almost every person
that was in the bar that night. It was really impressive to read through their reports
from 1987 and all the people that they talk to. They must have done so much work to find this many people.
Even if it was right around that time, they were going off of very limited information.
It was all word of mouth. That didn't really generate a whole lot of leads. NANCY GRACE: Police focus on two young men who were
also in the bar that night. One of them quickly becomes a person of interest. JOSEPH EDEN: The male friends that she was with, those were
kind of early unpegged as potential suspects because they were the last people who had ever seen her
alive and the last people who could confirm that they had seen her alive. And then they left together that night
and they just went to another bar. Now one of them turned out to have a really solid
alibi because he went and met up with his girlfriend that night. But whenever they found him, there's
kind of an interesting side story there because he had scratch marks on his back.
And so they went and talked to him and asked him about how he got those scratch marks.
And it turns out that was from consensual sex with his girlfriend later that night,
but they had to confirm that, of course, with his girlfriend. They were able to, once again, rule
out suspects very early on. But as far as identifying anybody right away that they
really thought could have been responsible for this crime, they weren't able to do that.
And so that's where the DNA became so important so many years later. All of them cooperated, all of them
provided samples or took a polygraph as requested. And ultimately, they were all cleared as suspects
after the initial investigation. And after that, there was no real front runner as far as suspects goes.
NANCY GRACE: Multiple leads fail to deliver a suspect. Weeks turn into months. The investigation into Darlene's murder goes cold.
JOE SOMOSKY: Everyone that we talked to, to include Darlene's husband, were cooperative and compliant.
Soldiers from all different units, Darlene's and outside of Fort Carson, civilians that we talked to,
possible suspects who were at the bar identified. A composite sketch was made of someone that
was seen to be dancing with Darlene before her friends left, which was, I mean, it looked like a white guy
with a flattop. Which at this time, I mean, that was probably 99% of everyone at Fort Carson at the time
and then some people in the community as well. So every lead ultimately became exhausted,
and this leads would come in through the years that would be followed up on. But no information was ever presented
that led us to a strong suspect, a viable suspect, or got us any closer to identifying where Darlene
Krashoc was actually murdered before she was found behind the business. The murder of Darlene Krashoc remains unsolved
for more than 30 long years. That is until detectives turn to ground breaking science to try
and catch Darlene's killer. That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [AUDIO LOGO] Colorado Springs, 2016.
Nearly 30 long years since the savage sex attack and murder of a young 20-year-old Army
Specialist Darlene Krashoc. Darlene's badly mutilated body found trashed next to a dumpster after she leaves a bar alone.
Now, Colorado Springs detectives hope and pray new investigative science can finally crack this case.
Detectives were always involved. They always have somebody who is assigned to these types of cases.
And they have an entire cold case homicide unit over there that really just looks at these types of cases,
investigations that have gone cold from these types of time periods. Now, rather any leads were really
generated in the meantime, it was pretty scarce there for a little while. And certainly through the 90s, soon after this happened,
there wasn't a whole lot that was able to happen with the case because there just wasn't any new information that they were really getting.
Me as an investigator looking at the amount of evidence that we had collected, you kind of sit back in your chair
and go, why haven't we had a match to this? We have good male DNA as being our suspect.
Why haven't we caught this guy? Reading that initial case, I knew the old investigators
that had originally worked on that were in contact with Darlene's parents. After reading the case, I learned early on
that her parents were involved. They would frequently reach out to the police department
to see if there was any new updates. So I picked up the phone and called. Introduced myself, saying I was assigned the case.
My first phone contact with them initially, I basically explained I was in charge of the case now.
I didn't really have anything new to tell them, but definitely provided my information
and told them to call me any time. NANCY GRACE: Investigators bring Darlene Krashoc's parents
back into the investigation. Detectives review the evidence they've gathered so far
and they zero in on DNA samples, which, thank heaven, have been preserved. LEON KELLY: This case has multiple potential transfers
of DNA from the perpetrator to the victim. DNA was collected from the ligatures, the objects that
were found on her, as well as from the various injuries areas that were suggestive of bite marks.
As well as the fact that it was clear that a sexual assault occurred in this case based on the injuries
so vaginal swabs were collected. All of those with the hopes that they would provide critical information tying
the victim to our perpetrator. This is an especially vicious sex attack. Darlene was tortured.
Investigators firmly believe her killer most likely had struck again. So they are hoping for a match within the National
DNA database, CODIS. LEON KELLY: What's important to keep in mind in DNA is that there is no central database
of every human being on earth. You don't put the DNA and it spits out who this person is,
where they live, and what's their phone number. You can only search databases that already exist,
people who've already had their DNA submitted. And through, certainly the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s,
that was limited essentially to violent perpetrators. If you hadn't committed a violent crime in the past,
there was no database that your DNA was going to be present there. That's still, despite the advent of DNA
and then searching that CODIS database of those violent offenders, unfortunately,
it didn't lead to the answer. So this was not someone who was in the system. They were out there, but we just didn't
have their DNA at that point. NANCY GRACE: Another dead end. The CODIS database does not find a match.
Colorado Springs Police and the US military crime unit search for a new scientific strategy.
I came into the picture around 2015. I was assigned the case to review and try to identify if there were any new leads or new angles
we could work with. Everything was really thoroughly documented, and it was really easy to identify what evidence existed
and where it was. That's half the battle sometimes in these cold cases. Once I had an understanding of what was done,
I reached out to the army crime lab and the Colorado Springs police department cold case team so that we could
have a collaborative conversation and see what we could do to move things forward.
JOE SOMOSKY: So Detective Isham and I worked with CID Agent Jessica Veltri and we determined that Darlene Krashoc's case had
a high probability of being solved but only if we moved from the conventional methods
of investigation. All these years have passed, no suspect DNA had been entered into CODIS to match what we had gotten
from the crime scene and from the physical evidence collected so we had to do something different.
At that time, we had determined that at Parabon NanoLabs, which we had used for genetic phenotype snapshots,
could also be used for a new technology or a new process called genetic genealogy.
JIM ISHAM: Agent Veltri, I could tell she was very invested in the case. Came to me and said the military would like
to pay to put this DNA sample through the testing, do some genetic genealogy, would I be willing to do that.
Of course, I said, yeah, I was thrilled. JESSICA VELTRI: Genetic genealogy is the practice of using genetic data from DNA in combination
with genealogical records to identify relationships among people. And so we can use it in law enforcement
by trying to identify how a match in a database might be related to our suspect by building family trees,
and ultimately identifying that person. NANCY GRACE: Military CID and Colorado Police
agree to proceed with genetic genealogy. Parabon NanoLabs takes the sample and they launch a search for a very unique DNA match.
JESSICA VELTRI: They take the suspect DNA once they have the profile developed and they enter it into these public databases.
And when they enter it, they can run a search. And the search will produce cousin, possible third cousin.
They share this amount of DNA in common. And they do that with several matches for our suspect DNA
and they find common ancestors. And then they can work those common ancestors down
through their descendants to see who of those descendants might have been in Colorado at that time,
might fit the age of our suspect. And that's kind of how they developed this suspect profile.
NANCY GRACE: 32 painful years after Darlene Krashoc's murder, Parabon NanoLabs contacts Colorado Springs detectives
with a possible breakthrough. Jim and I we're familiar with the process. We got an email saying that the results were in,
and the next step was to have a briefing. Jim and I were present while the investigators
and scientists from Parabon shared with us their findings. And we followed it along on a written report
that they had prepared. JIM ISHAM: When the analyst from Parabon said we have a match to the person in your case
report identified as unknown individual number one, you know, you felt like jumping up for joy and run
around the office. You just don't get better news than that. JOSEPH EDEN: When they built those family trees
on either side of unknown individual number one, they found that intersection, that intersection bore one son,
and that one son was a soldier who was stationed in Fort Carson at the time of the murder.
And so they knew right away it wasn't just coincidence, right. It wasn't just that they had their lead
and this is just like some random guy living out on the East Coast or something.
This was somebody who was actually stationed in Fort Carson at the same time as our victim was
during the time of the murder. JESSICA VELTRI: The suspect name that was produced to us
by Parabon was Michael Whyte. He was a soldier in the army at that time stationed
at Fort Carson, Colorado. He had no history that was known as far as violence, just
some routine traffic citations. And ultimately, his name was nowhere in the case file.
NANCY GRACE: Detectives have a name and they began to take a closer look at Michael Whyte.
JESSICA VELTRI: We did some digging on the name to try to see, one, was he interviewed as a suspect.
In the initial stages of the investigation, was he identified as a person that was at the club
that night. Was he a soldier? Where did he live? We did all that background research.
We didn't find his name anywhere in the file so there was no indication that he was ever
identified or interviewed as part of Darlene's initial investigation. JOE SOMOSKY: Based on the very specific and extremely violent
nature of Darlene Krashoc's murder and sexual assault, not just myself, but investigators before me
who had worked on Darlene's case ever at the onset or in between when it was a brand new case
and when it was a cold case. I always thought that this was someone who had committed
a similar offense in the past. We looked at unsolved cases, not just here, but we asked Interpol to see if they
had anything that matched that method used in Darlene's murder. And while we found some that were kind of matches, not
really full matches. And then once Mr. Whyte was identified as being the possible suspect in that case,
we looked at where he was stationed during his military career to see if there was anything matching.
And while we did find cases that had some similar characteristics, not exact, we couldn't draw a link to them.
So it was hard to believe that something so violent and so specific was a one-off crime.
JIM ISHAM: And I went back and forth on this. I have my own theory of what might
have taken place that night. But if you look at the overall picture and the severe brutality of the way this killing happened,
can people just snap out of the blue? Sure, we've all seen it. But the brutality of this, the injuries she sustained, we
were all thinking this is either not his first time or it wasn't his last. So that's always in the back of your mind.
NANCY GRACE: In light of the brutality of Darlene's murder, police know the perpetrator is capable of horrible acts.
They close in on Michael Whyte. Their next step is to obtain a DNA sample from Whyte without alerting a possible killer.
[AUDIO LOGO] Colorado Springs, 2019. Detectives closing in on a suspect they believe murder Darlene Krashoc 32 years before.
The young army specialist horribly sex attacked, tortured, and thrown away like trash next to a dumpster.
Thanks to forensic genetic genealogy, police finally have at least a suspect and a name
to go with it, Michael Whyte. Michael Whyte was a US Army soldier stationed at Fort
Carson at the exact same time. So he would have been co-located at the base, even though they weren't in the same unit,
and lived in the community in Colorado Springs. His military career spanned over 20 years and he retired.
CID Agent Jessica Veltri helped us get his military background. And we saw that he had been posted all across the United
States, in Europe, in Hawaii. And after retirement, had moved back to Denver where he worked for a telecommunications company.
Police then launched a background check. They're trying to establish Michael Whyte was in Colorado
Springs at the time Darlene Krashoc was sex attacked and murdered. The next step is to secure his DNA
sample without alerting Whyte. JOSEPH EDEN: They knew that they needed to collect a sample
directly from Michael Whyte to compare against the samples that have been taken from the items of evidence that
were found at the crime scene. And so what they did was they looked more into where
Michael Whyte was at the time. In 2019, they found that he was living in Thornton.
They actually followed him from his home one day, watched him go to work. They kind of waited for lunch time, waited for him
to leave his place of work. And he went to a burger restaurant and sat down and had a burger.
And while he was sitting there, he was sitting there with a friend and he was drinking
from like a red hard plastic cup. JIM ISHAM: Basically, what the court says is if I put something in the trash,
I have no expectation of that being mine or no expectation of privacy. So as far as law enforcement, I can reach in the trash,
grab it, and we can submit it. Those detectives grabbed that cup, placed it into evidence.
They swabbed the door handles of the vehicle he was seen in that day. Those samples were also sent into the lab.
Now it's a waiting game. JESSICA VELTRI: So the idea was to send that trash to the army
crime lab to test his DNA against our known forensic sample from the evidence at the crime scene.
Because the genetic genealogy identification wasn't enough alone to make an arrest.
NANCY GRACE: Darlene Krashoc's cold case team finally gets the news they've been waiting for.
JOSEPH EDEN: They found for the first time that it was a conclusive match. That the person that was sitting at that table,
drinking from that cup, was the person who had also left their DNA at the crime scene in 1987.
And when that came back to be a match, that was enough probable cause for the detectives
to then get an arrest warrant for Michael Whyte. JOE SOMOSKY: We took steps to ensure
we could make notifications to Darlene's family if and when Michael Whyte was identified as the suspect,
and if and when we made the arrest. We figured out where he was living and what his schedule was, and let Jessica Veltri
and her team at CID know. And they flew overnight from Hawaii to Colorado Springs
so they could be present for the arrest. Our undercover officers from the Metro Fugitive Unit,
again, assisted with surveillance. And we determined that they were going to be the arrest team for this.
We set up surveillance and a perimeter around his house, and waited and waited. And his wife came out of the house several times
to work in the yard. And the determination was made that we were going to make contact and make an arrest at that point.
Now, police have only one thing left to d. arrest Michael Whyte for the sex attack and murder of young army
specialist Darlene Krashoc. Their takedown is next on "Bloodline Detectives." [AUDIO LOGO]
2019, Colorado Springs detectives move in to arrest the main suspect in the 1987 murder of army specialist Darlene Krashoc.
His name, Michael Whyte. He had been a soldier at the same base as Darlene when one night, she is sex attacked, tortured,
and murdered. Then, the beautiful 20-year-old girl thrown beside a dumpster. I remember being on the back side of his residence.
The offender units detectives knocked, they went inside. And within two or three minutes, I
heard radio communications that they had taken him into custody without incident.
I came around the back side of Mr. Whyte's house about the time they were placing him
into the back of a police car. BEN HOSTETTER: And law enforcement went and arrested him.
The detective's remark was that the look on his face was like he'd been expecting this day for a long time.
Michael Whyte was arrested. I was brought back, I was interviewed. The primary statement that he gave to law enforcement
when they showed him Darlene Krashoc's photograph was, that looks like my ex-wife.
Otherwise denied knowing Darlene Krashoc or recalling her, other than she looked familiar to him as his ex-wife.
JOSEPH EDEN: He voluntarily submitted to an interview. He certainly acted like he had no idea what they were talking
about, or what they were there for, or anything that had been going on. But they kind of dug into his past a little bit,
got some answers about what he was doing in 1987 and where he was. And at that point in time, they had
the warrant to take the sample from his person directly. And so they did take that sample directly from his person.
And they tested that sample that was taken directly from him against all that evidence
that was collected in 1987. And that's where we got our match that was the most solid
for us as a prosecution team. NANCY GRACE: "Bloodline Detectives" have two complete DNA matches linking
Whyte with semen found on the body of Darlene Krashoc back in 1987. And they feel confident they've got the evidence
to secure a conviction. But of course, there's a hitch. The Colorado statute of limitation states
too much time has passed to formally accuse Whyte of rape. While we had to dismiss the sexual assault count,
it was still the basis for our felony murder count. Because what we were saying to the jury
was that the victim in this case was killed during the commission of a felony, that felony
being sexual assault. So even though it was a felony at the time, we couldn't charge it now,
but it was still the basis for the felony murder charge that we did have. BEN HOSTETTER: Michael Whyte decided to take the stand
and testified in his trial. His statement then was that he didn't remember or recall
Darlene Krashoc, which I just found inconceivable given the amount of media coverage that this
happened at that time. The fact that he was stationed at the same base with her.
I mean, it was plastered all over the news. For him to just say that he didn't know or remember Darlene, I found almost offensive.
Because he did know. He remembered Darlene Krashoc. NANCY GRACE: Two more years pass until a jury in 2021
listens to all the evidence. Michael Whyte takes the stand in his own defense. And he stupidly brags about his womanizing,
and then goes on to vigorously deny murdering Darlene Krashoc. But the jury doesn't buy it.
They convict Michael Whyte on all counts guilty. The judge then passed his sentence, life in prison
with no parole. I don't think that you can commit this type of a crime and be capable of remorse, especially when you consider
those three cigarette butts. I mean, they were smoked down to the filter. And there wasn't one, there were three.
And if that was the body dumpsite, that means that he had to have stood there and stared at that body, dragging all three
of those cigarettes. There's no remorse in this killing. And there was no remorse shown by Michael Whyte.
JESSICA VELTRI: It was strange to be in the same room with him right there, and then also in the same room
with Darlene's parents. But I was very grateful that her parents were alive and well to witness the trial of Michael Whyte.
I don't know if it brought them closure, but I'm hopeful that it brought them some sense of peace
knowing that both Colorado Springs Police Department and Army CID never gave up on their daughter.
That ultimately, justice was served for her. NANCY GRACE: Later, the team reflects on how they solved
a seemingly impossible case. JOSEPH EDEN: Jessica Veltri worked incredibly hard, possibly harder than anybody else on this case.
It was a very good coordinated effort between CSPD and the army investigations lab as well.
They worked very close, hand in hand with one another. I've had the honor and privilege of working high level
complex investigations like homicides for a good part of my career. And it's a big part of my livelihood.
Just knowing that, one, it brings closure not just to Darlene Krashoc, but to her family.
Two, it let other perpetrators, who have been undetected at this time, know that as long as an agency does their work
and never gives up, that there's a very good chance that they'll be brought to justice.
NANCY GRACE: This case and so many others like it would still be unresolved had it not been for remarkable developments
in forensic genetic genealogy. LEON KELLY: The advances in genealogy and DNA submitted essentially by the public
has really launched a Renaissance of cold case examination. Without this new database, without this new material
to compare it to, none of this justice would be served. It really is, at this point, the greatest tool we have.
In searching cold cases and revisiting some of these old mysteries are the willingness
of the citizens, of individuals, who are obviously curious about their own background, their own history, their own genealogy
to submit that material. It undoubtedly will continue to provide law enforcement and folks such as myself critical information.
Allows us to bring closure and justice to cases and tragedies of long ago. I would anticipate, there are going to be many
more cases like this coming down the line in the future. I think that genetic genealogy is single-handedly
what solved this case for us. LAURI MARTIN: Michael Whyte would never have been caught without DNA technology
and genetic genealogy. Had those distant relatives not submitted their DNA into those databases, who knows if he
ever would have been caught. He was living this normal life. He was married, he lived an hour and a half
away from the crime scene, he had no criminal past. He never thought he was going to be found.
JIM ISHAM: The advancements in forensic technologies and advancements in DNA, I think you have a lot of detectives
out there now just smiling, going, you know what, it's a matter of time. You know, so the criminals out there
that think they've got away with things for years and years may not have room to hide for very long.
NANCY GRACE: As an army specialist, this beautiful girl, 20-year-old Darlene Krashoc,
truly represented what teamwork really means. Darlene's brutal death at the hands of another soldier
demanded teamwork on the part of others. The Colorado Springs Police, the Army Criminal Investigation
Division, and of course, the scientist at Parabon NanoLabs. Their efforts, along with ground breaking forensic science,
finally brings a killer to justice after 32 years. I'm Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us here at "Bloodline Detectives."
[MUSIC PLAYING]

Colorado Springs, 1987, the body of Darlene Krashoc is discovered behind a restaurant. She’s been savagely beaten, raped and strangled. Investigators struggle to identify the barbaric killer. 30 years later, science provides a breakthrough that puts an end to this cold case.

Now in its third 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.

=============== Like, comment and subscribe if you’re ready for more true crime. Your favorite shows like World’s Most Evil Killers, Meet Marry Murder, Forensic Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Murdered At First Sight and Bloodline Detectives are all available to stream 24/7 for free via the FilmRise Streaming Network. You can access The FilmRise Streaming Network through most free App Platforms and Smart TV portals such as Amazon Fire TV, The Roku Channel, Android, iOS and many more.

Brief Summary

Darlene Krashoc's 1987 murder was solved using genetic genealogy, leading to Michael Whyte's conviction after 32 years of investigation.

Key points

The Night of the Murder. Darlene Krashoc stays out after her friends leave, leading to her tragic fate.
Gruesome Discovery. Police find Darlene's body in a shocking scene, marking the start of a long investigation.
Cold Case for Decades. For over 30 years, Darlene's murder remains unsolved until new forensic techniques emerge.
Breakthrough in Cold Case. After 32 years, detectives receive a possible breakthrough in Darlene Krashoc's murder case.
DNA Match Leads to Arrest. Detectives find a conclusive DNA match linking Michael Whyte to the crime scene.
Michael Whyte Convicted. Michael Whyte is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'll get a ride. Don't worry about me.

Darlene reassures her friends before they leave her at the bar.

2:42WatchMay 15, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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