Episode 61 Tonya McKinley Parts 1 & 2
On new year’s day 1985, the body of a woman was found lying on the dirt shoulder of a residential street in Pensacola, Florida. She was battered, bloody, and partially undressed. Tonya had last been seen celebrating New Year’s Eve at a local bar with friends – but no one knew when she left, or with whom. Multiple pieces of physical evidence, including semen and hairs, were found on her body, but before the advent of modern forensics, they led nowhere. Multiple suspects remained on the list for years, until DNA testing ruled them out, and police were no closer to finding who killed Tonya than they were in 1985. Then forensic genealogy pointed to a man who was living in the area at the time – and still was. Police arrested Daniel Wells for Tonya’s murder, and prosecutors started to build their case against him when it was all cut short.