Alabama 1999 cold case solved — arrest shocks community -- DNA exposes killer after 20 years

Описание: Alabama 1999 cold case solved — DNA exposes killer after 20 years

On the night of July 31, 1999, best friends J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, both just 17 years old, climbed into a black Mazda to attend a high school party in Ozark, Alabama. They were excited, laughing, and planning to be home by curfew.

They never made it.

By sunrise, both girls were dead — shot execution-style and left in the trunk of their car on a quiet residential street. For nearly two decades, the murders haunted Ozark, leaving families trapped in a nightmare with no answers and no suspects.

Investigators had DNA. They knew the killer had raped J.B. Beasley. They knew the evidence was solid. But the man responsible had never been arrested, never entered into a criminal database, and for 20 years remained completely invisible.

This gripping cold case investigation reveals how a single DNA profile sat in an evidence locker for two decades — and how cutting-edge forensic genetic genealogy finally exposed a killer hiding in plain sight, living an ordinary life in the same town as his victims.

It is a story of patience, scientific breakthrough, and justice delayed — but not denied.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER

This case is a factual true-crime account based on court records, investigative files, forensic evidence, and sworn testimony. No material details have been fictionalized.

🔍 WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS CASE:

• The final hours of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett
• Why the girls became lost on the way to a party — and what went wrong
• The shocking crime scene discovered the next morning
• How investigators preserved DNA for 20 years without a match
• Why traditional DNA databases failed for two decades
• The Golden State Killer case that changed everything
• How GEDmatch and forensic genealogy identified distant relatives
• The family tree that led detectives straight to the killer
• The arrest that stunned the Ozark community
• The courtroom confession that sealed his fate
• Why the jury rejected the defense’s explanation
• The life-without-parole sentence that finally closed the case

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Share your thoughts below — this case changed criminal investigations nationwide.

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