(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Nearly 50 years after the brutal stabbing of a teen girl as she was babysitting on a Monday night in 1977, the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) has declared the cold case solved, and while justice never came for the suspect, 14-year-old Maria Honzell’s family says she can finally rest in peace.
At a press conference held on Wednesday morning, May 8, 2024, CSPD and the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s (DA) Office said they are confident in the identification of the suspect in the case, William Charles Kernan Jr., who was identified through DNA evidence and genetic genealogy 47 years after the attack.
WATCH: CSPD holds press conference on 1977 cold case
The investigation dates back to the evening of Feb. 7, 1977, about 40 minutes before midnight. A woman returned home to her apartment on North Nevada Avenue, in what is now University Village, to find her babysitter, just 14 at the time, dead in the master bedroom. The woman’s two children, ages 6 and 8, were home at the time of the attack but were thankfully unharmed and asleep when their mother discovered Honzell’s body.
Police responded and found Honzell, dressed in a blue jumpsuit, dead of multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest, and her death was ultimately ruled a homicide. At the time, CSPD conducted a thorough investigation, including interviews, reports, and the collection of evidence, including a blood sample from Honzell’s clothing that did not belong to her.
As technology progressed, CSPD said a profile was built from the blood sample, confirming that it belonged to a man, though no match was found for the DNA, despite being tested against several potential suspects and being submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
“It can be difficult because, you know, you want to provide information. You want to give [the family] good news,” said Tracey Thompson, a Cold Case Detective with CSPD. “And when you’re talking to them and constantly telling them, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have anything right now.’ Breaks your heart.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 45 years later, this Colorado Springs cold case remains unsolved
With no match to the DNA sample and no other identifying information on a potential suspect, Honzell’s case went cold for decades.
42 years later, in 2019, Honzell’s case ignited with a spark of hope. CSPD reached out to Parabon NanoLabs to conduct genetic genealogy DNA analysis involving public commercial DNA databases. Genetic genealogy, as it is applied to cold cases, is the use of DNA samples in building a web of possible relatives and ancestors, in order to narrow down an unknown victim or offender.
CSPD said the genetic genealogy matches that resulted from that inquiry led investigators to comb through family trees of possible ancestors, using online genealogy databases, newspaper archives, public family trees, obituaries, and other public records. Finally, a person of interest was identified: William Charles Kernan, Jr., who had been a student of a local college, and was an acquaintance of the woman Honzell was babysitting for on the night of her murder.
Unfortunately, CSPD said it could not confirm a match between the crime scene DNA and the person of interest because Kernan had passed away in 2010 of natural causes, and he had been cremated. Kernan also had no living biological relatives. However, after a review of the case by the 4th Judicial DA’s Office, including the genetic genealogy research, the DA’s office said it is confident that Kernan is the person responsible for Honzell’s murder.
While a weight is lifted, the confirmation can be bittersweet, not just for the family, but for the investigators and officials involved in the case.
“In a sense, it can be disappointing,” said 4th Judicial DA Michael Allen. “That’s what we do for our work here, is to bring people into the courtroom and make them relive the horror that they’ve visited on some other person. So in that respect, it is somewhat disappointing. But justice can take many forms.”
For a family that had been left with nothing but questions for almost 50 years, that justice came in the form of answers.
“They’ve come through for us,” said David Honzell, Maria’s brother. “I hope for other families it can be the same.”
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