Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) – Las Vegas Metro Police shed more light Wednesday on a cold case murder from 1991, identifying the person believed responsible for a woman’s killing
Back in May of 1991, detectives responded to a call at a residence near Washington and H Street and found the body of a woman later identified as Sherrie Bridgewater. It was determined that Bridgewater had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
No suspect was found and the case went cold
Advances in DNA technology in 2013 led Metro to identify a suspect’s DNA in the Bridgewater killing. The DNA was also found to be a match to DNA found on a Westminster, Colorado murder victim who was killed in a similar fashion back in the mid-70s.
Working together with the police department in Westminster, in 2018 further forensic testing identified a suspect, Thomas Martin Elliott.
Elliott committed suicide in in Las Vegas in late 1991.
His remains were exhumed in October of 2023, and the DNA taken from Elliott turned out to be a 100% match to the DNA found on the two murder victims.