In 2024, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced the resolution of a decades-old cold case from the 1960s. The victim, a woman whose remains were found in the desert in 1968, was identified through advanced DNA testing as 19-year-old Colleen Audrey Rice, who had been reported missing from Portland, Oregon.
Investigators used forensic genetic genealogy to link DNA from the crime scene to a potential suspect, who was identified as Johnny Blake Peterson. Peterson, a convicted sex offender who died in an Oregon prison in 1993, was determined to be the likely perpetrator. The breakthrough came from a collaborative effort involving the LVMPD, the FBI, and Othram, a private forensic lab specializing in degraded DNA.
The case, known for years only by the location where the remains were found, had frustrated investigators for over half a century. The identification of both the victim and the suspect provides long-awaited answers, demonstrating the powerful role of modern forensic science in solving historical crimes.
