The man who murdered Roxanne Wood in her home 35 years ago is Patrick Gilham, age 67. In April of this year, he was given a prison sentence of at least 23 years.
In 1987, Roxanne Wood’s husband Terry Wood discovered her lifeless on the kitchen floor of their home. Police claimed that Terry discovered Roxanne with her throat cut and covered with blood.
Terry has been a suspect in the death of his spouse for the past 35 years. Although Niles and Michigan State Police officers ruled Roxanne’s death a homicide, there wasn’t enough evidence to make an arrest.
Investigators finally closed the case after more than three decades and detained the defendant, Patrick Gilham, in February of this year.
A minuscule DNA sample the size of a single cell let investigators identify the culprit. The case’s timeline and most recent updates are provided here.
Update on the murder of Roxanne Wood’s killer, Patrick Gilham
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35 years after Roxanne Wood’s passing, Patrick Gilham, 67, was detained on February 17, 2022, and charged with second-degree murder.
According to reports, he was charged with breaking into an occupied home. Patrick Gilhma was given a minimum of twenty-three years in jail on April 25, 2022, after entering a no contest plea to second-degree murder.
According to the authorities, the matter was looked into for many years, and detectives from the Michigan State Police went back to it in 2001 and 2020.
Students from Western Michigan University’s Cold Case Program finally helped those detectives locate Gilham on their first case together.
The students organized mountains of evidence, including numerous case files and digital Post-it notes.
Patrick Gilham underwent extensive DNA surveillance
After Gilham was identified as a suspect, undercover state police troopers questioned him twice and conducted a thorough surveillance operation on him. Detectives gathered the smokes he had thrown away during that time.
The DNA from the cigarette was later utilized by the authorities to establish that the DNA found at the crime scene belonged to Gilham, according to Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Charles Christensen.
He was questioned for five hours following his arrest in February, only a few days before the murder’s 35th anniversary.
Patrick was questioned by police for five hours and was asked why his DNA was discovered at the location. The accused, though, insisted he had no idea and couldn’t recall anything.
According to a statement from Identifiers International, Roxanne’s case marked a turning point for the use of FGG (Forensic Genetic Genealogy). They were able to identify Wood’s attacker using a low-level, severely degraded DNA sample that was taken three decades ago.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, the president of the company, called it their biggest technological challenge. He stated that it demonstrates the importance of never losing hope and thanked the Michigan State Police for having faith in them.
Roxanne Wood’s Murderer’s Dark Past
Using the DNA from a gnat’s eyebrow, genetics expert Gabriella Vargas was the one who named Gilhma as a suspect, according to The Sun.
She created a DNA profile that identified the attacker’s race and ancestry. Vargar’s discovery was uploaded by the investigator to an internet DNA database, enabling her to identify prospective relatives.
The expert eventually constructed the killer’s family tree and located Gilham’s parents. Vargas proposed that one of their three boys might have killed Roxanne.
The police conducted a comprehensive investigation into the family of Gilham’s three boys before coming upon Gilham’s record.
The murderer had a criminal history and had previously served time in jail for unlawful and unusual behavior.
