1968 cold case cleared: Wake County deputies, SBI discuss decades-old investigation

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today

2025-11-06

Uh we're pleased to provide information

Today of a recent collaboration between the Wake County Sheriff's

Office North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations First Genesis First

Jeans LLC and Austria Forensics

Uh this collaboration resulted in the clearing of a 1968

unsolved homicide

And we believe it's important to share this information to

send a message to the public that law enforcement never

gives up

That we pursue every lead and we embrace technology and

partnerships to solve crimes

The order of events today will proceed with Sergeant Kenneth

Kay who was the lead investigator in this investigation

To provide details of the investigation connect the dots identifying

the victim and the connection to the perpetrator followed by

Director Chip Hawley from the FBI to outline SBI's involvement

followed by Leslie Kaufman from First Genes LLC to explain

how the DNA process worked to bring about this outcome

Thank you

I'm Sergeant K with Wake County Sheriff's Office

Uh this case originated in April 28th of 1968

Deputies originally responded to the area of 1010 Road near

Lake Wheeler in reference to a deceased body that was

located in a field

Uh deputies immediately called for assistance from the FBI as

the body was identified as a white female who was

burnt beyond recognition

Um neighbors in the area were interviewed and provided information

saying that they had seen a female matching that description

walking in the area but no one could identify who

she was

The victim was located with few belongings no identification and

was disfigured so a positive ID could not be completed

A pathologist in the area was able to provide information

saying they believe she was a 35 year old female

and a facial reconstruction was completed but still no identification

was able to be completed at the time

Uh with some evidence left on scene there wasn't enough

for an arrest and the victim to be identified but

a person of interest was originally identified as a gentleman

who lived in close proximity to this area and was

named Robert Reagan

In 2004 investigators received new information involving Robert Reagan as

a suspect

Interviews were conducted with a witness providing details to investigator

On clues and evidence that were left in the area

that were not made public at the time

This witness was also able to provide information saying that

they had seen Reagan in possession of an identification card

for a female by the name of Holcomb

They could not remember the full name but knew the

name Holcomb when they provided that information

At that point in time the district attorney's office in

2004 was contacted and advised that they would pursue charges

on Robert Reagan as a suspect in this case

He however had passed in 1992 so no charges were

ever filed

The sheriff's office did not close the case at that

time because we wanted to identify the victim

For generations uh the sheriff's office worked on this hoping

to bring closure to a family that had yet to

be identified

Efforts were placed on examining evidence concentrating with DNA

Multiple tests were completed with the assistance of the FBI

on the victim's clothing shoes and glasses

However a DNA profile was never able to be established

There was one key item that was taken from the

deceased by the coroner which was cut hair

This evidence was kept in the sheriff's office custody in

our evidence for 57 years

Just recently the hair was provided and sent off for

a suitable DNA comparison and that was sent to Estrella

Forensics

They were able to successfully develop a profile for the

victim

The profile from this victim was sent to Leslie Kaufman

with First Jean's LLC and she was able to identify

a possible relative after hours and hours of working on

a family dynamic for this victim

The sheriff's office recently met with relatives of this victim

and additional DNA testing was completed and confirmed that the

victim was in fact a female by the name of

Myrtle Holcomb

She was born in 1919 and family had said she

was traveling to the area of North Carolina from Florida

before her murder

Uh receiving this information to family was a shock because

they had just lost touch with her

They weren't sure where she was at the time or

what had gone on with her but they they knew

at some time she had passed that she was born

in 1919 um

The family has requested privacy at this time because they're

just devastated by this information and trying to process everything

that's going on

Uh her children and grandchildren were were unaware of anything

that had happened with her

Uh this information also

Helps collaborate the information received in 2004 as the identification

card that was seen by the witness did in fact

say the name Holcomb and again our deceased victim is

Myrtle Holcomb um

I'd personally like to thank the SBI and Agent Nate

Holcomb who's excuse me not Nate Holcomb Nate Thompson who'd

recently retired uh he's been a tremendous help with the

sheriff's office along the way for trying to identify this

and the assistance of Australiaa Forensics and Leslie Kaufman with

first genes without their help none of this would have

been possible

um this time I'll turn it over to

Director Holly

Thank you Sheriff Director Hollywood North Carolina State Bureau of

Investigation um

Right now I would I would like to thank the

sheriff's office in collaboration uh with our uh cold case

uh team of agents

Uh they right now even now we have 37 open

cases of cold cases across the state of North Carolina

And this just reinvigorates what we're trying to do and

bring closure to uh victims out there

Uh there are so many that there's a lot of

cases for Murphy to Mania and we're trying to make

sure that we provide the necessary assistance like in this

particular case we were able to provide over $10,000 worth

of funding uh that uh and along with the sheriff's

office funding to to run these tests

These tests are very expensive but what you get out

of it is is you can't put a price on

it

So we would like to thank the collaboration with more

agencies across the state

Having those funds for agency even like Wake County Sheriff's

office is imperative that we are there for them in

their time of need and we really appreciate the collaboration

and hope that we can keep moving forward and bringing

victims uh some justification and knowing that their families have

have some uh type of relief in their pain and

bringing suspects to justice

Thank you

Uh my name is Leslie Kaufman

I'm with First Gen's Forensic Genealogy

The first thing I'd like to do is commend the

Wake County Sheriff's Office for maintaining such great evidence and

keeping this case alive for so long and the FBI

for the cold case team um they were imperative to

us getting this work done

Providing funds is the first part of it of course

and the very most important um but the second part

is knowing what to do with the DNA

Um As for Forensics has provided uh a very was

able to provide a very good DNA profile and kit

which I was able to upload to two different databases

that law enforcement is allowed to use

They are Jet Match and Family Tree DNA

From those two I was able to develop a a

family tree for Ms

Holcomb

Um I actually had two trees built to a total

of little over 4000 people

It took me about 4 months to get a lead

provide a lead to uh Kenny and well to Kenneth

and I apologize for using his name uh in the

short term but um anyway we were able to get

a final uh identification September and um

I open the floor to any questions

Good So Yes Yes or no Like was she married

Did she you mentioned she had children uh she was

married with children but as uh Kenneth Kay said um

the family is asking for total privaecy so we're not

going to give out any information where she's from uh

the name of the children or grandchildren to try to

provide that privacy for them um

Two children And I'm not sure how many grandchildren she

had but to

So Uh She has 2 children we'll leave it at

that because we do want to give them the anonymity

that they've asked for

Do a question for each of you at any point

how unusual and satisfying is all of this Well it's

the oldest cold case in North Carolina solved with forensic

genealogy as far as I know and uh so that's

the first

It's very rare that um we're being able to do

cases with hair

That's a recent development with as your forensics

This is the 2nd case that I've been able to

solve with forensic genetic genealogy using hair

And it's a wonderful feeling being able to give somebody

an answer after all these years it's incredible

I understand that it's devastating for the victim but it's

also satisfying to know what happens

Sorry is there any indication about what Ms

Holcomb would have been doing here in the area and

whether or not she had any connection that has been

identified with the potential suspect in the case Uh I'll

let Kenneth answer that

No sir we there's information from the family that they

knew she was traveling to this area but they didn't

know why um

They Yeah they just they didn't know why

They knew she was coming here but they they they

didn't really have any answers to why she was coming

And as for any connection to Robert Reagan have you

guys been able to identify any No sir

Can I ask you as well how unusual and satisfying

is this Um yes sir uh

You know at the sheriff's department here I believe we

have

32 cold cases unsolved homicides that are open um that

we're working

Uh investigators have several of them that they're they're working

at a time um

We try to put all the effort in that we

can

There's it's a lot of going back and looking over

evidence and and reexamining cases and finding new ways and

new things to move forward with

Um DNA is a big part of that and I

think that's the the big key is is looking at

these things

I think it's very satisfying to be able to actually

talk to families and tell them that you know we've

been able to come up and identify someone or to

help try to solve and and bring closure to cases

and families

Debbie did you guys ever think

You get to this point

My mother was 8 years old when this case started

Um I you know I wasn't even thought of

I I uh commend just the the numerous investigators before

me that worked on this case and kept things relevant

and updating case files because we still actually have the

original case file from when this started and it's it's

amazing to go back to actually go back and see

those original notes handwritten notes from 1968 and the notes

that have been developed in further in the 70s and

the 80s and and so on

Yeah Does this give you hope for the other unsolved

cases and what would your message be to potential victims'

families and also with the DNA testing you know going

about funding that I mean how do you reconcile the

money to continue doing this type of testing Yes it

definitely gives us hope you know our staff is committed

and dedicated the passion there to solve every unsolved crime

We believe again we bring a degree of closure to

families of the victims

We also hold the responsible person accountable

So that's a motivating factor and we believe that as

we continue to work hard and dedicate ourselves to this

and with and embrace technology that we're gonna be able

to clear more cases

And how do you continue funding that I mean it

seems pretty costly in this case

Definitely we have to think outside the box but that's

where collaboration is so important

I said we embrace the partnerships

It's about the public private non-profit faith-based partnerships that allow

us to continue to serve

How many cold cases do you have right now I

would like to double check that

Uh 32 unsolved homicides

OK

And The victims' remains I mean where are they right

now and if something like this happened today how would

it be investigated differently than six decades ago Again uh

we embrace the different tech technology exists today you know

now we're able to readily get things done in the

labs instead of years when it took for this new

technology to come into existence but through the FBI and

federal agencies we're able to

We have our own local uh Wake County Bureau of

Forensic Science who's able to help us immediately jump on

a case start doing identification process start linking connecting dots

So we're confident that we can move at a faster

pace and do things more timely the cost of the

advancement in technology

Directly you like to share

Let's go OK

We thank you so much for being here today

Thank you