Murder of missing Michigan high school student solved after 40 years, police say

This story contains mention of suicide. If you are at risk of suicide, please stop here and contact 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for support.

Michigan State Police announced that they had resolved a more than 40-year-old kidnapping and homicide cold case after testing DNA from a deceased suspect.

Roni Collins, 75, was officially implicated in the murder of Sheri Jo Elliott, a 16-year-old Michigan high school student who was reported missing in 1983, police said in a social media post on April 13.

Despite an “extensive” investigation at the time of the murder, MSP said, the case remained unsolved and ultimately went cold.  

Here’s what to know about the cold case:

When did Sheri Jo Elliott go missing?

Elliott was first reported missing in November 1983. She was last seen after school, waiting for a bus in Flint, Michigan, roughly 70 miles northwest of Detroit, but never arrived home, according to a police social media post.

Her body, which showed evidence of multiple gunshot wounds and sexual assault, was found four days after she was reported missing, dumped in a rural township some 40 miles north of Flint, police said.

Forensic advancements lead to resolution

At the time of Elliott’s murder, “limited forensic technology” hampered the investigation until it ultimately went cold, police said. However, four decades later, detectives decided to reopen the case, buoyed by the promise of modern forensic sciences.

According to the investigators, MSP Forensic Science Division worked alongside Othram Labs, a Texas-based forensic team specializing in solving decades-old cold cases, to use "Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing," ultimately revealing the profile of an unidentified suspect.

Collins, then a resident of the Flint suburb, Grand Blanc, was later identified as a suspect, police said. However, before investigators could obtain a voluntary DNA sample, Collins died by suicide in January.

DNA collected during his autopsy "was later analyzed and conclusively matched evidence recovered from Elliott in 1983, identifying him as the individual responsible for the crime," police said.

Bringing closure to Elliott’s family, community

Collins will never be held accountable for his alleged crimes; however, police said that “detectives believe the identification provides long-awaited answers to Elliott’s family and the community."

The department also lauded the forensic advancements that made those answers possible.

“This case underscores the significant impact of advancing forensic technologies – particularly forensic genetic genealogy – in resolving decades-old unsolved crimes,” the department said.

Clearing cold cases in 2026

Every law enforcement agency across the country reports crime and investigation statistics to the federal government differently, making it exceedingly difficult to calculate the number of cold cases solved each year.

However, over the past few months, USA TODAY has reported on numerous developments.

Shirley L. Washington: Authorities announced in April that a homicide investigation dating back to 1973 was brought to a formal close, more than a half-century after a woman was found dead in a Northern Virginia state forest. Following a review of the case and modern evidence, investigators with the Virginia State Police confirmed that Washington, 33, of Washington, DC, was the victim. Authorities allege that her late husband, Clarence E. Washington, killed her.

Teresa Peroni: On April 21, the Oregon Department of Justice announced that Marcus Sanfratello, 73, had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1983 homicide of his former girlfriend, Peroni. Despite a skull being recovered in 1997, prosecutors determined they didn’t have enough evidence to secure a conviction. However, in 2024, the case was reopened, as detectives re-interviewed witnesses, collected new DNA evidence and used DNA technology, ultimately building a case against Sanfratello.

Laura Ann Aime: Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith announced April 1 that DNA testing connected, “without a doubt,” the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Aime, whose body was found naked, beaten, bound and dumped along a state highway in Utah. The break in the 52-year-old murder case came after cold case detectives reviewing the case found that it appeared to be solvable because of the advancement of forensic science in recent years, the sheriff's office said.

Becca Mallekoote: The decades-old mystery of Mallekoote, aka “Becca Doe,” was solved March 4 after college students helped Albuquerque law enforcement identify a woman found dead in a New Mexico motel room in 1991. The breakthrough came from investigative genealogy work, led in part by students and staff at Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, in coordination with the Albuquerque Police Department and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.

Dan Basso, Anthony Thompson, Michelle del Rey, and Amanda Lee Myers contributed to this report.

Drew Pittock covers national trending news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected].