DNA match possibly linked to 1980 Austin cold case, search warrant says
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TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A DNA match may help authorities solve a 1980 Austin cold case, according to details in a Travis County search warrant affidavit filed earlier this week.
Authorities filed the search warrant to obtain DNA swabs from a man who may be connected with the death of Susan Leigh Wolfe. The man is currently in a Massachusetts prison, the search warrant states
On Jan. 9, 1980, around 10 p.m., the Austin Police Department received a call from a man who said he witnessed a kidnapping in the 200 block of Franklin Avenue in east Austin. He told police he saw a white woman walking eastbound on Franklin Ave. and described her as being in her mid-20s, 5 feet 8 inches, with a medium build, broad shoulders and long dark hair. He said she was carrying a blue backpack, a blanket and a white plastic bag, according to the affidavit.
The man said he saw the woman walking eastbound on Franklin Avenue until she was near the area of Link Avenue. Then, at that time, “a two-door white over-maroon car with passenger-side crash-type damage drove by the man’s residence” and then headed towards the woman, court records said. The driver then got out of the vehicle, grabbed the woman in a “bear hug,” put a coat over her head and forced her into the car. The man said he also saw the passenger door open but did not see what happened during the kidnapping.
After witnessing the kidnapping, the man told police he went inside his home, grabbed his car keys and then tried to find the suspect’s vehicle. When he drove by the scene where the kidnapping happened, he saw the white bag the woman was carrying on the ground. After he couldn’t find the suspect’s vehicle, he grabbed the bag, took it home and then called police, according to the affidavit.
The man “confidently described” the suspect vehicle as a 1970 Dodge Polara, as he told police he worked in the automotive industry, court records said.
The next day
On Jan. 10, 1980, around 8:39 a.m., APD received a report of a body found in an alley in the 2000 block of 17th Street. The body was identified as Wolfe. Police said she lived in the 200 block of Franklin Avenue, which was the same block where the kidnapping was reported 10 hours earlier, according to the affidavit.
An autopsy performed by the Travis County Medical Examiner determined the death was a homicide. More specifically, the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. Court records said DNA found on the victim during the autopsy may have belonged to the suspect.
The DNA match
On April 27, 2023, the test results of the DNA came in via the Texas Department of Public Safety Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), according to the affidavit. That is when the possible match was connected with the man in the Massachusetts prison.
The man was arrested on Feb. 15, 1980, in another Texas county, and that is how officials were able to track down his records containing his fingerprints. Those records documented he was “stopped in a 1969 Dodge Polara,” court records said.
Other homicide cold cases
The Austin Police Department has 13 unsolved homicide cold cases and also has a breakdown of ‘Wanted for Murder’ cases that are categorized by decades, according to the City of Austin website.
Anyone who may have any information on those cases can call the APD Homicide tip line at 512-477-3588, Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS or via email, the website said.
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