On Dec. 21, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations helped bring closure in an unsolved homicide case that spanned 38 years for one missing child's family. The victim, Ima Jean Sanders, then 13, went missing in Warner Robbins, Ga on August 1, 1974 and now, several days before Christmas, the GBI is reporting her remains have finally been reunited with her family.
The process that finally culminated in success for Georgia's state law enforcement agency began in January of 2011, when the biological mother and sister of Ima Jean provided DNA samples to the Austin County Sheriff's Office, who, in turn, sent the samples on for processing at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI).
Genetic data was extracted from the DNA samples and uploaded into a computerized national database system known as CODIS.
GBI uses CODIS in Unsolved
CODIS, Combined DNA Index System, is a national repository of DNA data collected from convicted criminals, missing persons, and unidentified bodies, as well as evidence collected at crime scenes. The DNA system affords law enforcement entities the ability to link criminals to crime scenes as well as bring closure to families like Sanders', who might otherwise never know what happened to their missing loved one.
Some missing person investigations, like Ima Jean Sanders' case, could have been solved years ago, when they first occurred, if DNA testing and a national database had been a possibility back then. But in April of 1976, when her body was first found, the remains could not be identified due to destruction by animals, as well as a the limitations of science.
Manpower still required in unsolved homicide cases
Despite the GBI's ability to bring closure to the Sanders family now, and the advances of DNA testing, it still took extensive reinvestigation interviews and manpower to confirm that the DNA match was also affirmed based upon case file data about the suspected killer and the victim's remains. This resulted in an almost yearlong process for investigators, as well as a lengthy wait for the family.
In the end, the GBI determined that 13-year-old Ima Jean Sanders was murdered by serial killer Paul John Knowles, who murdered at least 18 people, including a Florida State Trooper before being shot to death by a GBI agent while trying to escape custody in December of 1974.
Serial killer confesses
In Knowles' own words of confession, which he audio taped and then mailed to a Florida attorney, he told of a victim that fit the description of Ima Jean, calling her Alma. He said he raped and strangled the girl before leaving her body behind in a wooded area, between trees.
Like other serial killers, Knowles returned to the crime scene later -- two weeks later according to his account -- and Ima Jean's body had been moved due to animal activity, so he took her remaining jaw bone and buried it nearby.
It was the inability of law enforcement to recover a jaw bone with the remains found in 1976, coupled with the confession of Knowles that helped confirm the idenity of Ima Jean Sanders' killer years after her disappearance and murder. But it was DNA and CODIS technology that eventually cracked this unsolved homicide case.
Reference: GBI
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