Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The search for Nancy Guthrie in Tucson is stirring memories of a high profile cold case in Western New York that was ultimately solved with the help of DNA evidence.
Altemio Sanchez, known as the "Bike Path Rapist" was convicted on four counts of second-degree murder, dating back to 1981, and was also accused of raping dozens of women.
He struck fear in the Buffalo area for over three decades, from 1975 to 2006.
Former Buffalo FBI Agent Holly Hubert, now CEO of GlobalSecurity IQ, remembers that investigation vividly.
"That case, was broken wide open, by one bead of sweat on the column of Joan Diver's steering wheel," said Hubert. "One bead of sweat that they got DNA off of."
Diver, a mother of 4, disappeared while out for a run on the Clarence Bike Path in 2006. She was later found strangled to death. She was Sanchez' final victim.
Most of Sanchez' attacks were pre-internet. They were also in multiple jurisdictions. Buffalo, Amherst, Hamburg, and Clarence.
Hubert remembers that all of the paper files were eventually scanned into a computer and that's when investigators linked the cases together.
Sanchez was caught in 2007 after police secretly collected his DNA from a water glass and utensils at Sole' restaurant in Williamsville. DNA evidence linked him to multiple murders and dozens of rapes.
In the Guthrie case, police are using advanced DNA profiling techniques, similar to the Altemio Sanchez case, and the Bryan Kohberger case to solve her case.
With no initial DNA match in the FBI's criminal database, it signaled a dead end for many. But Hubert disagrees.
"I think there's analytical value in the database itself in the Guthrie case," said Hubert. "I hope and I'm sure that there are deep analytics happening that will lead to a break."
Investigators are also pursuing genetic genealogy to solve Guthrie's mysterious abduction.