ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia and federal officials say DNA has identified a deceased truck driver as the man who killed a young woman in the state’s far northwest corner in 1988.
At a news conference Tuesday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s headquarters in suburban Atlanta, officials said genetic genealogy pointed to Henry Fredrick “Hoss” Wise as the killer of Stacey Lyn Chahorski.
“The FBI and our entire Georgia law enforcement community will never give up, and we will use every advance in technology to achieve justice for you and your family,” said Keri Farley, the special agent for the FBI’s Atlanta office.
“Genealogy DNA proves Henry ‘Hoss’ Wise killed Stacey Chahorski,” Farley said.
The remains of Chahorski himself were not identified until March after they were found along Interstate 59 near Rising Fawn, Georgia. She, too, was identified using genetic genealogy, with Farley saying it was the first known case in which the technique was used to identify both a victim and a killer.
Because many people use DNA testing to trace their ancestors, the technique can match unknown individuals to relatives, using genetic material collected from even decades-old crime scenes. Investigators can then work from distant relatives to identify specific individuals.
In this case, the technique allowed investigators to identify both the long-missing Michigan teenager and Wise, a truck driver who died in 1999 after a stunt driver accident at a racetrack in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Chahorski’s body was known as Rising Fawn Jane Doe when found along Interstate 59 in December 1988. For years, GBI agents and Dade County investigators tried to identify her by drawing composite sketches and making audio renditions. After taking the case in 2005, GBI Special Agent Joe Montgomery had the victim and killer genetically profiled and entered into an FBI database.
But there were no hits until the GBI asked the FBI to consider genetic genealogy. That led in March to the body being identified as that of Chahorski, a 19-year-old who last spoke to her mother over the phone in September 1988 and said she was planning to travel to North Carolina. Investigators believe she arrived by bus or hitchhiked from either Knoxville, Tennessee, or Charlotte, North Carolina.
Chahorski was reported missing in January 1989 by her mother, Mary Beth Smith, in Norton Shores, Michigan. After she was identified, Chahorski’s remains were exhumed from a grave in Dade County and returned to Michigan. Montgomery said when he recently called Smith to let her know officers had concluded Wise was the killer, she was “overwhelmed.”
“Every time I speak to her, she’s overwhelmed, and that’s understandable,” Montgomery said. “Losing your daughter 34 years ago and walking through this void, not knowing where she is and finally being able to say, ‘She’s here.'”
GBI said an advanced test conducted by a private lab contracted by the FBI returned positive results in June that pointed to Wise. Farley said investigators interviewed a living relative of Wise’s, who helped with the investigation and provided a DNA sample. Farley said Wise at the time regularly drove a truck route through Dade County, traveling between Birmingham, Alabama; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Nashville, Tennessee.
Officials said Wise has lived in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina at times. He also worked as a stunt driver and died in 1999 at the age of 43, 13 days after being burned during a failed stunt at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
Wise’s sister later sued the company that hired Wise, claiming they failed to prepare him for the stunt. The suit claimed Wise did not have a flame retardant suit, was driving a vehicle purchased from a junkyard, and the car stalled and burst into flames before Wise could escape.
Although Wise had a criminal history, he did not have charges as serious as murder. Montgomery said it was “possible” that Wise had killed others, but said DNA is now on file and any other possible crimes “should come to light now.”
“Although we cannot bring him before human justice, he has faced ultimate justice for a number of years,” said Chris Arnt, the Dade County District Attorney. “At least we can get some answers for Stacey’s family, and they can go to bed knowing that your daughter’s killer, your loved one’s killer, isn’t out there on the prowl anymore.”
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This version corrects that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation press conference was held on Tuesday.
