1971 Vermont Cold Case Solved With DNA From Cigarette: Cops

More than 50 years after someone broke into 24-year-old Rita Curran’s apartment and strangled her, police say they finally know who was responsible for the crime. Police in Burlington, Vermont, say they were able to identify a suspect because of a cigarette butt left behind by the perpetrator in 1971. While they were never able to match the DNA on the cigarette to anyone in their database, they used genetic genealogy to get a name. Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.