KANSAS CITY – A small bit of DNA could help lead to a breakthrough in a 20-year-old double murder case in Kansas.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigations (KBI) said they have recovered a very small amount of male DNA that could belong to whoever killed two women in 2002 at a Dolly Madison Bakery in Great Bend, Kansas. Agents say they recently collected the DNA from one of two of the victims.
In September 2002, a delivery driver found store clerk Mandi Alexander, 24, and customer Mary Drake, 79, dead at the bakery.
Investigators say they were killed with a sharp object, but the murder weapon was never found. Robbery could have been the motive. They’re not certain. Cash register money was taken.
The male DNA recovered, though not enough to run it thru a national database, KBI agents say they could check it against a suspect, if they were to find one.
The investigation into the 2002 homicides of Drake and Alexander remains open. A thorough investigation was conducted by the KBI, the Great Bend Police Department, and the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, but currently no one has been arrested for these crimes.
The women were killed in the early evening hours on Sept. 4, 2002. The Great Bend Police Department responded to the bakery at 1004 Harrison in Great Bend, just before 8:00 p.m., after a Dolly Madison Bakery delivery truck driver located the bodies of the two women inside the business. A witness described seeing a white man leaving the bakery who appeared to be in his 30s.
During the past year, KBI special agents and forensic scientists completed an exhaustive review of all of the physical evidence collected in this investigation. They reassessed the potential for additional results by utilizing current forensic technologies, especially those that have had significant advancements in the 20 years since Drake and Alexander were killed.
As a result of this new testing, male DNA was discovered on a sample collected from the body of one of the victims. KBI agents and detectives from the Great Bend Police Department have collected numerous DNA samples for comparison to the DNA discovered, and will continue with these efforts.
Anyone, who knows even the slightest detail related to these crimes, is urged to contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME.