The Army has released a state-of-the-art phenotype image of a man suspected in the Colorado Springs killing a young Fort Carson soldier in 1987.
Investigators used the suspect’s DNA profile to predict or decode his physical appearance and ancestry — in a process called phenotyping — in order to reveal what he looked like at the time of the slaying and likely looks like now.
The images were released on Monday, 30 years after the slaying as the Army announced a $10,000 reward in the case.
Army Spc. Darlene Krashoc, 20, was found dead in the early morning hours of March 17, 1987, in the rear parking lot of what was then-called the Korean Club Restaurant on the 2700 block of South Academy Boulevard.
Colorado Springs police and Army investigators say Krashoc was an active duty soldier stationed at Fort Carson and assigned to the 73rd Maintenance Company. She was five months away from turning 21.
Reward Offered in 1987 Homicide https://t.co/qRiK2qVHIY pic.twitter.com/kKldUVTzxZ
— Springs Police (@CSPDPIO) March 13, 2017
The night before her body was found, Krashoc went to a nearby club with some members from her unit where she spent the evening drinking and dancing. She was seen leaving the nightspot between midnight and 1 a.m., and her body was found at 5:30 a.m. by Colorado Springs police officers.
“After a thorough crime scene examination, collection of evidence, and hundreds of interviews, the case went cold,” Colorado Springs police and the Army said Monday in a joint news release. “In 2004 and 2011, the investigation was reopened for laboratory testing and an unknown DNA profile that genetically types as male was located on several pieces of evidence.”
That DNA evidence was used to create the phenotype image.
Investigators believe the DNA belongs to a man who was about 25 years old at the time of the killing, making him between 50 and 55 now.
Do you know this man? Army CID believes he killed a Fort Carson soldier 30 years ago. Help them find him. https://t.co/DOnlLOpRxH pic.twitter.com/LXQwlvwJq8
— Michelle Tan (@MichelleTan32) March 13, 2017
The Army cautions “it is important to note that the composites are scientific approximations of appearance based on DNA, and are not likely to be exact replicas of appearance. Environmental factors such as smoking, drinking, diet, and other non-environmental factors — e.g., facial hair, hairstyle, scars, etc. — cannot be predicted by DNA analysis.”
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command at 1-844-Army-CID or 571-305-4375. Tipsters can also e-mail information to Army.CID.Crime.Tips@mail.mil.
Tips can also be submitted to the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444- 7000 or Pikes Peak Area Crime Stoppers at 719-634-7867.