Cedar Rapids, IA, USA  
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe Today
The Gazette The Gazette
The Gazette The Gazette
  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe
CLOSE
The Gazette
Subscribe
My Account
  • News
    • All News
    • Election 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Business News
    • Community
    • Crime and Courts
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Nation and World
    • Time Machine
    • Search Archive

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Lee Hermiston
    • Erin Jordan
    • James Q. Lynch
    • Trish Mehaffey
    • Vanessa Miller
    • Kat Russell
    • Grace King
    • John Steppe
    • Gage Miskimen
    • Marissa Payne
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Hawkeye Football
    • Hawkeye Basketball
    • Prep Sports
    • Prep Volleyball
    • Prep Football
    • Prep Basketball
    • Prep Wrestling
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • UNI Panthers
    • Small College Sports
    • Minor League Sports
    • Outdoors

    Sports Desk

    • Mike Hlas
    • Jeff Johnson
    • Jeff Linder
    • J.R. Ogden
    • K.J. Pilcher
    • Leah Vann
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Editorial Mission
    • Guest Columnists
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Political Cartoons
    • Staff Columnists
    • Staff Editorials
    • Submit a Letter or Column

    Our Columnists

    • Todd Dorman
    • Adam Sullivan
  • Food and Drink
    • All Food and Drink
    • Chew on This
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Business Notes
    • Companies
    • Personal Finance
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy
    • Manufacturing
    • Openings & Closures
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Transportation

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Erin Jordan
    • John Steppe
  • Obituaries
    • All Obituaries
    • In Memory Of
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • Daily News Podcast
    • Fact Checker
    • Hlastradamus Odds
    • Iowa Prep Sports
    • On Iowa
    • On Iowa Politics
    • On UNI
    • Pinning Combination
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Art
    • Books
    • Museums & Galleries
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Things To Do
  • Living
    • All Living
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Milestones
    • People & Places
    • Pets & Animals
    • Recreation
    • Religion & Belief
    • Travel

    Our Writers

    • Diana Nollen
    • Elijah Decious
  • Kids Gazette
    • See All
    • Kids Cooking Series
    • Kids Galleries
    • Printables
    • Activities
    • Articles
    • Submissions
    • Resources
  • Photos
    • All Photos and Videos
    • The Iowa Photo
    • Photo Store

    Our Photojournalists

    • Andy Abeyta
    • Liz Martin
    • Rebecca Miller
    • Jim Slosiarek
    • Gazette Visuals
  • Milestones
    • All Milestones
    • Anniversaries
    • Days To Remember
    • Engagements
    • Holidays
    • In Remembrance
    • New Arrivals
    • Thank Yous
    • Submit a Milestone
  • Data
    • Arrests
    • Building Permits
    • Interactive Maps & Charts
    • Salaries
  • Gazette Sites
    • Classifieds
    • Corridor Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Gazette Gives Back
    • Gazette Rewards
    • Gazette Store
    • Green Gazette
    • HER
    • Iowa Wedding Experience
    • Holiday Light Finder
    • Hoopla
    • Iowa Ideas
    • Photo Store
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
    • About The Gazette
    • Archives
    • Article Removal
    • Business Directory
    • CR Arrest Database
    • Mobile Apps
    • Customer Care
    • Order Back Issues
    • Privacy Policies
    • Puzzle Answers
    • Sponsorship Requests
    • Submit a Letter
    • Weather
  • Digital Edition
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast
Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
Log out

FOLLOW US

The Gazette
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
  • Entertainment
  • Living
  • Kids Gazette
  • Photos
  • Milestones
  • Data
  • Gazette Sites
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
  • Digital Edition
  • All News
  • Election 2020
  • Coronavirus
  • Business News
  • Community
  • Crime and Courts
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • Nation and World
  • Time Machine
  • Search Archive

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Lee Hermiston
  • Erin Jordan
  • James Q. Lynch
  • Trish Mehaffey
  • Vanessa Miller
  • Kat Russell
  • Grace King
  • John Steppe
  • Gage Miskimen
  • Marissa Payne
  • All Sports
  • Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Hawkeye Football
  • Hawkeye Basketball
  • Prep Sports
  • Prep Volleyball
  • Prep Football
  • Prep Basketball
  • Prep Wrestling
  • Iowa State Cyclones
  • UNI Panthers
  • Small College Sports
  • Minor League Sports
  • Outdoors

Sports Desk

  • Mike Hlas
  • Jeff Johnson
  • Jeff Linder
  • J.R. Ogden
  • K.J. Pilcher
  • Leah Vann
  • All Opinion
  • Editorial Mission
  • Guest Columnists
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Political Cartoons
  • Staff Columnists
  • Staff Editorials
  • Submit a Letter or Column

Our Columnists

  • Todd Dorman
  • Adam Sullivan
  • All Food and Drink
  • Chew on This
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • All Business
  • Agriculture
  • Business Notes
  • Companies
  • Personal Finance
  • Economy
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Openings & Closures
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Small Business
  • Transportation

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Erin Jordan
  • John Steppe
  • All Obituaries
  • In Memory Of
  • Submit an Obituary
  • All Podcasts
  • Daily News Podcast
  • Fact Checker
  • Hlastradamus Odds
  • Iowa Prep Sports
  • On Iowa
  • On Iowa Politics
  • On UNI
  • Pinning Combination
  • All Entertainment
  • Art
  • Books
  • Museums & Galleries
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Things To Do
  • All Living
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Milestones
  • People & Places
  • Pets & Animals
  • Recreation
  • Religion & Belief
  • Travel

Our Writers

  • Diana Nollen
  • Elijah Decious
  • See All
  • Kids Cooking Series
  • Kids Galleries
  • Printables
  • Activities
  • Articles
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • All Photos and Videos
  • The Iowa Photo
  • Photo Store

Our Photojournalists

  • Andy Abeyta
  • Liz Martin
  • Rebecca Miller
  • Jim Slosiarek
  • Gazette Visuals
  • All Milestones
  • Anniversaries
  • Days To Remember
  • Engagements
  • Holidays
  • In Remembrance
  • New Arrivals
  • Thank Yous
  • Submit a Milestone
  • Arrests
  • Building Permits
  • Interactive Maps & Charts
  • Salaries
  • Classifieds
  • Corridor Careers
  • Garage Sales
  • Gazette Gives Back
  • Gazette Rewards
  • Gazette Store
  • Green Gazette
  • HER
  • Iowa Wedding Experience
  • Holiday Light Finder
  • Hoopla
  • Iowa Ideas
  • Photo Store
  • About The Gazette
  • Archives
  • Article Removal
  • Business Directory
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Mobile Apps
  • Customer Care
  • Order Back Issues
  • Privacy Policies
  • Puzzle Answers
  • Sponsorship Requests
  • Submit a Letter
  • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
LOG OUT

FOLLOW US

More Stories

Brucemore celebrates 40 years of being open to the public

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

Meet the Iowan behind the Vaccine Hunter website

Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

26-year-old man killed in shooting in NE Cedar Rapids

Peggy Whitson to be keynote speaker for Iowa Ideas 2021

Here’s how to get rid of your derecho tree debris

Livestream: Funeral for Iowa state trooper Jim Smith

Home / News / Crime and Courts

October trial on track for man accused of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979

Trish MehaffeyBy: Trish Mehaffey Jun. 3, 2019 12:03 pm Updated: Mar. 25, 2020 2:49 pm
October trial on track for man accused of killing Michelle Martinko in 1979

CEDAR RAPIDS — The October trial remains on track for a Manchester man accused of fatally stabbing 18-year-old Michelle Martinko in 1979.

In a hearing Monday, the attorney for Jerry Burns, 64, and two prosecutors said evidence materials are being shared and there were no pending motions to discuss.

Burns waived his right to be present at the hearing and didn't attend.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover-Grinde held the short hearing in chambers with First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and Assistant Linn County Attorney Michael Harris and Burns' defense lawyer, Leon Spies, who called into the hearing.

Maybanks said prosecutors had consulted with an expert who may testify at trial but that information still was being reviewed. He said they will share details with the defense if they decide it will be used at trial, but he did not say what kind of expert it was.

Spies asked the judge for an in-camera review — documents examined by the court but not made public — regarding Burns' health records.

Judge Hoover-Grinde granted the review and ended the hearing. She and lawyers stayed to conduct the review.

The trial remains set for Oct. 14 in Linn County District Court.

A February search warrant previously obtained by The Gazette explains how genetic genealogy shared on a website helped lead to the Dec. 19, 2018, arrest of Burns in the 39-year-old cold case.

According to the affidavit, DNA from two distant cousins, when compared with DNA from the crime scene, led to Burns and his two brothers as possible matches. His brothers were eliminated. but Burns' DNA — taken from a soda straw and collected by an investigator in October 2018 without his knowledge, was a match, according to the document.

The probability of finding Burns' DNA profile among unrelated individuals would be less than 1 in 100 billion, the documents show.

According to another warrant from Dec. 19, authorities believe Burns may have cut himself during the brutal act.

A blood stain on the back of Martinko's dress matched Burns' DNA, so it's 'logical to assume' his blood got on her dress from being cut 'while he was stabbing her,' Cedar Rapids police investigator Matthew Denlinger, wrote in the affidavit.

Parabon NanoLabs in Reston, Va., told investigators in May about GEDmatch, a public DNA database used to help research family trees. The DNA of the then-unkown suspect was uploaded to the site. That revealed it shared DNA with a distant cousin, Brandy Jennings, 40, of Vancouver, Wash.

Jennings, a second cousin twice removed related to Burns through her paternal great-grandparents, told The Gazette last month she had forgotten about uploading her DNA to the database.

Jennings was mentioned in the Feb. 5 warrant but said she was never contacted by police. She said she doesn't know Burns or any of his family members and has no ties to Iowa.

The February warrant also revealed that activity on Burns' office computer included searches for 'blonde females, assault, rape, strangulation, murder, abuse and rape of a deceased individual, and cannibalism.'

In the warrant, Cedar Rapids police investigator Jeff Holst noted Martinko was blond, attacked, assaulted with a blunt force injury to her head and stabbed about 21 times. She had defensive wounds consistent with fighting off her attacker before she died.

Burns, during a Dec. 19 interview with police, denied knowing Martinko or being at the crime scene.

Martinko was found stabbed to death in her family's Buick on Dec. 19, 1979, in a parking lot of Westdale Mall. The Kennedy High School senior left a school choir banquet that night and drove to the mall to buy a winter coat. Her body was found the next day, court records show.

Burns has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is jailed on a $5 million cash-only bail.

• Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

Jerry Burns
Daily Report, Cedar Rapids, Michelle Martinko
Trish Mehaffey

Trish Mehaffey

Reporter, The Gazette

Reporter covering state and federal courts, and whatever legal issues come my way. I also provide live coverage of criminal trials o and welcome comments and questions from readers.

Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 20 years for meth distribution

Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 10 years in workplace shooting

Iowa City man faces life in prison for sexually abusing…

Court replaces two judges on business court

All articles by Trish

Give us feedback

We work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage because we value your trust. If you find an error or omission in our reporting, please tell us here.

Submit a story idea

Do you have a story idea that we should look into? Please tell us here.

Related Stories

800,000 Iowans vaccinated so far

800,000 Iowans vaccinated so far

Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Apr. 15, 2021 2:55 pm

Iowa adds 445 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday

Iowa adds 445 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday

Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Apr. 13, 2021 3:41 pm

Iowa adds 666 virus cases on Thursday

Iowa adds 666 virus cases on Thursday

Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Apr. 8, 2021 4:39 pm

Crime & Courts

Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 20 years for meth distribution

Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 20 years for meth distribution

Trish Mehaffey

Crime and Courts 4h ago

26-year-old man killed in shooting in NE Cedar Rapids

26-year-old man killed in shooting in NE Cedar Rapids

Kat Russell

Crime and Courts Apr. 16, 2021 10:01 am

Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

Trish Mehaffey

Crime and Courts Apr. 15, 2021 5:40 pm

Suspect in Iowa trooper’s death ran for county sheriff

Suspect in Iowa trooper’s death ran for county sheriff

AP

Crime and Courts Apr. 15, 2021 4:38 pm

News

100 bills in Hinson’s first 100 days in House

100 bills in Hinson’s first 100 days in House

James Q. Lynch

Government & Politics 25m ago

More than 2 million vaccine doses have been administered in…

More than 2 million vaccine doses have been administered in…

Kat Russell

Health Care and Medicine 35m ago

NewBoCo to offer zero-interest loans to minority-owned businesses

NewBoCo to offer zero-interest loans to minority-owned businesses

John Steppe

Small Business News 3h ago

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

Vanessa Miller

Higher Ed 3h ago

Sports

Cedar Rapids Kernels preparing for a very unique 2021 season

Cedar Rapids Kernels preparing for a very unique 2021 season

Jeff Johnson

Minor League Sports 5m ago

Keeping fit during quarantine is important

Keeping fit during quarantine is important

By Max Berry-Stoelzle

Iowa Prep Sports 4h ago

State-qualifying track and field assignments are released

State-qualifying track and field assignments are released

Jeff Linder

High School Track and Field Apr. 16, 2021 10:34 am

Iowa’s magical soccer season continuing

Iowa’s magical soccer season continuing

Iowa Hawkeyes Apr. 16, 2021 11:10 am

Opinion

Migrant children are not ’our problem,’ governor — they’re our…

Migrant children are not ’our problem,’ governor — they’re our…

Staff Editorial

Opinion 90m ago

’Back the Blue’ legislation makes Iowans less safe and free

’Back the Blue’ legislation makes Iowans less safe and free

Christina Bohannan and Janice Weiner

Guest Columnists Apr. 15, 2021 5:36 pm

Lack of oversight at Iowa’s prisons is a deadly problem

Lack of oversight at Iowa’s prisons is a deadly problem

Staff editorial

Staff Editorials Apr. 16, 2021 7:55 am

Don’t give college sports a blank check

Don’t give college sports a blank check

Staff editorial

Opinion Apr. 15, 2021 5:10 pm

FOLLOW US

The Gazette is Iowa’s independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage.

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility

Contact Us

  • 116 3rd St SE
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
  • customercare@thegazette.com
  • (319) 398-8333
  • Live Chat

Links

  • Puzzle Answers
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Article Removal Request
  • Gazette Archives
  • Green Gazette
  • Corridor Careers Jobs
  • Work at The Gazette
  • Customer Care

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility
Folience A Folience Company