DA: DNA from fingernails helped solve 1988 cold case killing

GALT, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a suspect in a 1988 sexual assault and killing of a 79-year-old woman in a small Northern California community has been identified thanks to advanced DNA testing on scrapings from the victim’s fingernails. Galt Police Chief Brian Kalinowski said Tuesday that Terry Leroy Bramble was 32 years old when he sexually assaulted, stabbed and strangled Lucille Hultgren inside her home. He says Bramble was homeless and a registered sex offender when he died in 2011 of natural causes while living under a bridge. Bramble’s DNA, collected during a 1992 sexual assault conviction in San Joaquin County, matched DNA found in fingernail scrapings collected from Hultgren’s body.