He Thought a Drinking Straw Was Harmless — 39 Years Later It Convicted Him

December 19, 1979. Eighteen-year-old Michelle Martinko leaves a Christmas choir banquet, drives to Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and never comes home. Her killer wears gloves and leaves no fingerprints. But he leaves one thing behind: his own blood on her dress. For 39 years, more than a hundred suspects are cleared. Then a public genealogy database, a family tree, three brothers, and one drinking straw at a pizza restaurant lead detectives to a 64-year-old businessman in Manchester, Iowa. This is the full story of how the case was solved, how the jury decided, and why the Iowa Supreme Court had to rule on the DNA we all leave behind. Chapters 0:00 A drinking straw 1:38 The last evening 3:33 The Buick in the parking lot 5:08 A city without an answer 6:36 The stain called F5 8:34 A face from DNA 9:39 The family tree 11:00 The straw 12:45 "Test the DNA" 14:36 The verdict 16:01 The straw on trial In memory of Michelle Marie Martinko (1961–1979). Sources State v. Burns, Iowa Supreme Court, No. 20-1150 (March 31, 2023) KCRG trial coverage, February 2020 (police interview as shown in court) CBS2 Iowa, KWWL, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), Des Moines Register Quotes from the police interview are taken from trial reporting and shown as text; the interview video itself is not used. Narration: AI voice. Research, script and editing by The Final Verdict. Photos marked "illustrative" show similar places or objects, not the originals. Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons) 1972 Buick Electra, same model (illustrative): That Hartford Guy / Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 2.0 · denizen24, dave_7, sv1ambo, Greg Gjerdingen, CC BY 2.0 Cedar Rapids: Iowahwyman, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Westdale Mall, skyline) · WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Corey Munson, CC BY 3.0 · Interiority, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Davumaya, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tony Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0 (The Gazette) · Tichnor Bros. postcards (public domain) Manchester, Iowa: John Margolies / Library of Congress (public domain) · Library of Congress panorama (public domain) · Kevin Schuchmann, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mroeder75, CC BY-SA 4.0 Iowa: Dirk DBQ, CC BY 2.0 (Iowa State University) · Tony Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0 / 3.0 (winter scenes) Night scenes (illustrative): Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 (1970s police car) Investigation (illustrative): Ed Westcott and FBI (public domain, polygraph) · Jim Herron (public domain, 1951 sketch) · John Crawford, NCI (public domain) · Qi-Liang Ding, John Schmidt, CC BY-SA 3.0 · NHGRI (public domain) · FBI (public domain, FBI Laboratory) Restaurant and objects (illustrative): Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0 (Pizza Ranch) · Horia Varlan, CC BY 2.0 · Jim Evans, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jonas Bergsten (public domain) Courts and prison: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ctjf83 (public domain) · Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress (public domain) · Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kepper66, CC BY-SA 3.0 · David Wilson, CC BY 2.0 Custom graphics (maps, family tree, cards): The Final Verdict. #truecrime #coldcase #coldcasesolved