SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Police say a man who lived and died in Bartholomew County is behind the 1988 murder of a California mom.
Investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department say Warren Robinson was Diane Dahn's neighbor when she died.
The San Diego woman was found stabbed to death on May 2, 1988, in her Santee, Calif. home after not showing up for work.
At the time, detectives were not able to figure out who killed her. Investigators searched for several years without any suspect.
Then in 2010, a single hair that had been found in Diane's hand after her death was processed into the system. It didn't return any hits until 2020.
Extensive testing led investigators to connect Robertson to the woman's death.
“In the end, nine trees were constructed with almost 1,300 individuals connected to the suspect via either marriage or blood,” Senior Crime Intelligence Analyst Jeff Vandersip told KGTV, a sister station of WRTV.
Although the DNA doesn't show why Diane was killed, the news still brings her family some peace.
"I didn't think anything was ever going to come of this, I thought I myself was going to go to my grave not knowing," said Victoria Danh-Minter, Dahn's sister.
"The answers that my family received ... it's closure," said Mark Beyer, Dahn's son.
Warren Robertson died in November 1999 in a Bartholomew county house fire.
WRTV previously reported he died from smoke inhalation.
KGTV Meteorologist/MMJ Leah Pezzetti contributed to this report.
-
Rice leads No. 16 Indiana past South Carolina
Myles Rice scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half and No. 16 Indiana defeated South Carolina 87-71 on Saturday.
California health officials report first case of new form of mpox in the US
The first known case of clade I mpox in the U.S. was recently discovered in a person in California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.
Ball St. fires coach Mike Neu after 4 straight losing seasons
Ball State fired coach Mike Neu on Saturday following four straight losing seasons since winning his only Mid-American Conference title.
Southwest flight headed to Indy struck by gunfire at Dallas airport
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, while taxiing for takeoff at Dallas Love Field Airport, a Southwest Airlines headed to Indy was reportedly struck by gunfire Friday night.
