But even after working through the Thanksgiving holiday, Newport Beach police could not obtain a clear lead on a suspect in what became a cold case that spanned the next four decades. Press Release - KILLER IDENTIFIED IN 1980 NEWPORT BEACH COLD CASE MURDER https://t.co/2rjsLm1iwt — Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) August 9, 2021NBPD officials on Monday announced that with the help of DNA extraction and some genetic genealogy, they’d finally identified the killer — Kenneth Elwin Marks, who died in 1999 — and delivered the news to Nesbitt’s living family members. “This is a case that has hung heavy in the hearts of our community, our department and the Nesbitt family,” Newport Beach Police Chief Jon T. Lewis said in a statement. For the next 16 years, the DNA profile sat in the system, unmatched with any other sample, while Newport Beach police continued to puzzle over whom the hairs belonged to, the release indicated. Members of the Newport Beach Police Department met with the Nesbitt family to inform them that the cold-case murder had finally been solved, according to the release.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 09, 2021 19:17 UTC