Cold Case of Jennifer Watkins Finally Solved After Two Decades
By: Josie Klakström
Tags: Cold Case, Genealogy, History, Short Read, True Crime

Cold Case of Jennifer Watkins Finally Solved After Two Decades

Once again, genealogy has helped find a killer.

Jennifer Watkins via people.com

23-year-old Jennifer Watkins was working at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs as a dietary aide when she went missing. On the 6th of November 1999, Jennifer didn’t pick up her children from her mother’s home, once her shift at the hospital ended. Her husband, Michael was concerned as it wasn’t like Jennifer to forget to pick her children up. Soon after, he called the police to report his wife missing.

Two days later, Jennifer’s body was found under a set of stairs in the hospital. The area was under construction at the time and was empty of the bustling staff and patients who usually occupied the halls. The autopsy showed that Jennifer had been sexually assaulted and had died from blunt force trauma to her head. She had been bound and wrapped in plastic, but the killer had been careless. DNA, hair and semen samples were taken from Jennifer and the crime scene.

Initially a suspect in the case, Michael was brought in for questioning numerous times during the investigation, but he was eventually ruled out and cooperated fully with the police. The investigation was textbook, and every enquiry was followed up appropriately, but the police ran out of suspects quickly and the case went cold.

Until now.

Last week, the Colorado Springs Police Department held a press conference, to announce that they had found Jennifer’s killer.

Over the past few years, using the DNA left behind at the crime scene, CSPD and Parabon NanoLabs, who is based in Virginia, were able to create a profile of Jennifer’s killer. They created a composite of the suspect through the profile, which showed that the man had blue or green eyes, blond or light brown hair and had Northern European lineage.

The composite sketch via Colorado Springs Police Department

In August this year, a lead was identified using genealogy.

29-year-old Ricky Severt was an employee of the Memorial Hospital and had worked in the maintenance department for around a year. He was interviewed at the time of Jennifer’s murder but claimed he hadn’t seen her on the day of her disappearance.

Ricky Severt via Oxygen.com

Unfortunately, Severt was killed in a car crash in November 2001, just outside Colorado Springs. To ensure the police had the right person, DNA was collected from his family members to confirm that Severt was indeed Jennifer Watkins’ killer.

“I am proud of all the Cold Case detectives throughout the last 21 years who have never stopped working for Ms. Watkins. Not for one moment did they ever lose sight of what was most important: Finding the truth for the Watkins’ family.” — Vince Niski, Colorado Springs Police Chief.

The case is now closed but Jennifer’s family will never see justice served to her murderer. The Colorado Springs Police Department had 91 unsolved homicide cases. Now they have one less.

“After all these years, we are grateful to finally give Jennifer Watkins’ family the answers they deserve.” — Vince Niski, Colorado Springs Police Chief.

Parabon NanoLabs also helped solve the disappearance and murder of Jessica Baggen.

Once again, a killer has been caught. Who will be next?