The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office says DNA testing has helped solve a 40-year-old homicide.
In 1980 a 29-year-old Indiana man named Michael Lee was shot and killed near a rural Arizona highway. Unsolved at the time, his case was revived when DNA testing of cigarette butts found at the scene led to two new suspects, David Widmer and Rocky Crabtree. Evidence points to robbery as a motive.
Both suspects are now deceased, but a statement from the Sheriff’s Office says Lee’s family expressed appreciation upon learning the resolution to the cold case.
