COLORADO 1975 Cold Case Solved After 48 Years — She Was Hitchhiking Home

COLORADO 1975 Cold Case Solved After 48 Years — She Was Hitchhiking Home On December 4, 1975, 20-year-old Teree Becker was hitchhiking through Colorado to visit her boyfriend, who was incarcerated at the Adams County Jail in Brighton. She never made it there. Two days later, her body was discovered in a field in Westminster, Colorado. For nearly five decades, investigators had no answer to one devastating question: Who killed Teree Becker? Her autopsy determined that she had been raped and died from asphyxiation. Investigators continued reviewing the case over the years, but the killer remained unidentified. Then, in 2003, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation recovered an unknown male DNA profile from evidence connected to the case and entered it into CODIS. There was no immediate match. The breakthrough eventually came through genetic genealogy. In 2018, investigators determined that the DNA profile was a strong candidate for genetic genealogy. Working with DNA specialists and genealogists, investigators gradually narrowed the search to Thomas Martin Elliott, a man who had died by suicide in 1991. But investigators still needed definitive confirmation. In October 2023, Elliott's body was exhumed in Las Vegas so investigators could obtain DNA directly from his remains. In December 2023, testing confirmed that Elliott's DNA matched the unknown male profile recovered from evidence in Becker's case. After 48 years, Teree Becker's murder was finally solved. The investigation also revealed a disturbing connection to another homicide. Elliott's DNA linked him to a second murder in Las Vegas, helping investigators understand that Becker's case may not have been an isolated crime. Teree had simply been trying to get where she was going. Instead, her journey became a mystery that lasted nearly half a century—and a case that ultimately demonstrated how modern DNA technology can succeed where decades of traditional investigation could not. In this video, we'll uncover what happened to Teree Becker, how investigators tracked the killer through decades-old DNA, why the original investigation went cold, how genetic genealogy changed the case, and the shocking evidence that finally identified her murderer 48 years later. 👍 Enjoyed the video? Like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for more cold cases, true crime history, unsolved mysteries, and investigations that finally reveal the truth. #ColoradoColdCase #TereeBecker #ColdCaseSolved #TrueCrime #ColoradoHistory #ColdCase #DNA #GeneticGenealogy #CrimeDocumentary #TrueCrimeHistory