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.
-
1984: What’s in that briefcase? Barbara Boyd finds out
Working men walking the streets of downtown Indianapolis were frequently seen clutching briefcases of all kinds in 1984. WRTV's Barbara Boyd set out to find what they were carrying.
Jack Smith asks court to pause appeal of Trump's classified documents case
Special counsel Jack Smith asked a court Wednesday to pause prosecutors' appeal seeking to revive the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump.
Housing development for Indy's unhoused officially ready for move-in
Compass on Washington is a 36-unit permanent supportive housing development that will also offer services for mental health, addiction, and recovery.
IPS outlines priorities for 2025 legislative session
The IPS priorities for the 2025 General Assembly focus on education funding reform, student health initiatives, post-secondary accessibility, workforce development, and literacy support.
