Testimony is underway in Hennepin County in a nearly 30-year-old murder case in Minneapolis that sparked new life when a suspect was charged three years ago.
Jerry Westrom, 56, was charged with the murder of Jeanie Childs in 2019. The case had been cold for years without a lead until evidence was found tying Westrom to the scene.
Childs was brutally stabbed to death in her Minneapolis apartment in 1993. Prosecutors shared that DNA from Westrom was found all over the apartment. They confirmed it was his DNA by matching it to DNA from a genealogy website.
Westrom's footprint was also matched to a bloody footprint found at the scene of the crime.
Investigators say the evidence they found ties Westrom to the stabbing, and after almost 30 years, the trial has begun.
Early in testimony, Westrom's defense claimed that another person committed the crime while attempting to poke holes in the case the state put forward.
The jury overseeing the case includes 12 seated jurors with three alternates. Six of them are women, and nine are men ranging in age from their 20s to 50s and older.
Related
