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Press conference in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on February 10th
Photo: Michael Rubinkam/AP
According to consistent media reports, the murder of a nine-year-old girl was solved through the use of DNA technology in the USA. The crime took place in March 1964. At that time, Marise Ann Chiverella was found in the small town of Hazleton, around 130 kilometers north of Philadelphia, on the way kidnapped to school.
The body of the child was found in a nearby coal mine the same day, according to authorities, Marise Ann Chiverella had been raped and strangled.
Details of the case were released at a press conference on Thursday, which was attended by both the girl's relatives and retired police officers who had worked on the case.
In 2007, it was possible to extract DNA traces of the perpetrator from the girl's jacket.
The unknown DNA profile was uploaded to a genealogy database in 2019, showing that the perpetrator could have been a very distant relative.
Traces on the girl's jacket
In 2020, genealogist Eric Schubert, who was only 18 at the time, is said to have contacted the Pennsylvania State Police to offer his help in the case.
He went in search of other relatives, more DNA samples were taken, ultimately everything pointed to James Paul Forte, who died of a heart attack in 1980, as the perpetrator.
In January 2022, Forte was exhumed, and on February 3, the lab confirmed that the DNA on the girl's jacket came from Forte.
In the course of the almost 60-year investigation, the oldest cold case that has been cleared up in Pennsylvania to date, the perpetrator was not suspected.
In 1974 the man was convicted of serious bodily harm, and in 1978 he was arrested for harassment, among other things.
The sister of the murdered woman is quoted as saying that the family will continue to ask "what could have been or could have been".
Now the identity of the killer is known and "justice done."
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