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Suspect Arrested in 1998 Axe Murder Case
The killer of 19-year-old Jennifer Brinkman in Washington State has seemingly been caught.
Police in Washington State say they are confident they will be able to close a particularly shocking cold case dating back to 1998 after arresting a suspect for murder.
Jennifer Brinkman was 19 and had recently moved to the city of Marysville with her father in the spring of 1998. Although they didn’t know many people yet, Jennifer was especially friendly and would talk to people as she enjoyed daily walks to local stores and the library.
On March 13th 1998, Jennifer’s father Michael left town for a week-long vacation with his girlfriend. Although Jennifer had been invited to go with them to Disneyland, she decided she didn’t want to go.
Michael was at first reluctant to leave her by herself as the teenager had a mild developmental delay that made her seem more like 13 or 14, but she eventually persuaded him she would be fine. Michael thought the independence might indeed be a good test of her maturity.
However, he never could have foreseen the tragic consequences of this decision.
A shocking crime
Jennifer was last seen on March 16th 1998 as she walked the few blocks from her house to the nearby 7-Eleven. She had been by herself three days by then and appeared to be managing just fine.
But when Michael Brinkman returned home on March 21st, a terrible scene greeted him. Jennifer lay dead on her bedroom floor, having been murdered with an axe that was discarded at the crime scene.
An autopsy found that although Jennifer had put up a brave struggle for her life once her assailant was inside, “chop wounds to the neck” had finally killed her.
A frustrating investigation
Marysville Police Department quickly launched an extensive investigation into the crime that had shocked the local community. They were able to collect a substantial amount of biological material from the murder scene and Washington State Patrol Crime lab isolated a male DNA profile from it.
