MARYSVILLE—
Washington's Most Wanted's Parella Lewis takes on this horrific case.Inside the Marysville Police Department, she looks through seven binders dealing with one of only two cold cases in the department, hoping that one of you will have the missing clue to catch an ax murderer.
Jennifer Brinkman was just 19, living with her dad, but home alone when she was killed back in 1998.
Det. Dan Vinson with the Marysville Police Department remembers the crime scene. "Against this wall on the left hand side was the bed, a single bed, was against that wall. Jennifer was lying on the floor next to the bed. The suspect or suspects came to the door or may have given her a ride. It's likely someone that she had met prior, and she let him come into the house."
Jennifer was constantly meeting new people, she spent a lot of time walking around her neighborhood. Trouble is, her mother says she was too trusting of people. She had a minor developmental disability, and had the mental capacity of a 13 or 14 year old. "She would go up to anybody and start talking to them."
That year, for her birthday, Jennifer's father was planning to take her to Disneyland, but she couldn't decide whether she wanted to go. "First she says 'yes', then she says 'no'. We went back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I said 'make up your mind' she said 'no.' I said 'I'm going to hold you to it'. I wish that I had never said that."
He ended up leaving Jennifer home alone for almost a week. As he was driving back to Marysville, he began to have a strange feeling. "As I was getting close to home, I started to get this apprehensive feeling."
When Jennifer's dad walked into the house that evening, he noticed the lights and the heat were off. He also noticed Jennifer's dog was outside instead of inside where she usually stayed.
Then he went to Jennifer's room and saw her lying nex to the bed.
Her throat had been slashed with an ax.
"I reached down and touched her, but it still didn't register to me that she was dead."
Det. Vinson describes the murder weapon. "It was a relatively small ax that was used to end her life. The ax is from the house. It was normally stored in the garage, but was located in the bedroom."
Because there was no forced entry, investigators like Det. Vinson believe Jennifer let the killer into her home. "What I think happened here is one or more suspects showed up here. She let them into the house, and they were expecting something perhaps she was willing to give, or something she wasn't interested in."
Investigators say however it happened, the killer left an important clue at the crime scene. "There was a substantial amount of evidence collected and in that evidence, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab was able to get a DNA profile of an unknown male."
The crime lab didn't find a match on file, so that DNA still sits and waits to be linked to the killer.
Detectives are hoping after 12 years, someone has talked about this sick crime and is ready to help solve this case. "She deserves some justice, and the family deserves some justice, and I think that somebody out there has heard what happened, and I want them to come forward and tell us what they know so we can get this solved for the family."
Again, authorities are asking anyone who may know anything - even something small - to call: Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS
