On October 2, 2023, the Wichita Police Department announced that Paul Hart was the lead suspect in the October 2, 1989 murder of 20-year-old Krista Martin in Wichita, Kansas. The case has been cleared by exception due to the death of Hart.
Martin was sexually assaulted and killed by an intruder into her apartment on Osage Street. She died by blunt force trauma to the back of her head. In 2009, the case was reopened, and a DNA profile of the suspect was developed from a sexual assault kit collected from Martin’s body at her autopsy.
The profile was entered into CODIS but did not generate any hits. Police also report testing the DNA of several suspects, who were all excluded.
The reopening of the case was due in part to the involvement of Martin’s niece, Ember Moore.
The FIGG investigation was conducted by Othram in partnership with the Wichita Police Department and the FBI, beginning in 2020. The FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team performed the genealogical analysis. The final confirmation was made through kinship testing with living relatives.
Hart was killed in a car accident in March of 1999 in Memphis, Tennessee. He lived in Wichita at the time of Martin’s murder.
Sources:
Castillo, Eduardo. “Police Solve 1989 Cold Case Murder of Wichita Woman in Her Home.” Wichita Eagle, October 3, 2023. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article280025354.html.
Tabachnick, Cara. “Police Identify Suspect in Wichita Woman’s Murder 34 Years After Her Death.” CBS News, October 3, 2023. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wichita-suspect-krista-martin-murder-1989-dna-match/.
Vogen, Michael. “Wichita Police Department & the FBI Partner with Othram to Identify the Suspect in the 1989 Murder of Krista Martin.” DNASolves.com, October 2, 2023. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://dnasolves.com/articles/krista-martin-wichita/.