Genetic genealogy helps identify killer in 1985 murder of UTA student: Cold case breakthrough

By Amelia Mugavero, Doug Myers

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    ARLINGTON, Texas (KTVT) — Forty years after the brutal murder of UTA student Terri McAdams, investigators credit advanced technology and investigative genetic genealogy – which combines crime scene DNA with genealogical research – for the breakthrough that identified her killer.

“We finally get to provide answers that the department wanted to provide for nearly 40 years,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said in a press conference.

Investigators say they finally connected DNA to a suspect named Bernard Sharp, who police say committed a double murder and killed himself about nine months after his attack on McAdams.

Police say McAdams was brutally beaten, sexually assaulted and killed in her fiancé’s Arlington apartment on Valentine’s Day in 1985. She was 22 years old and the oldest of three sisters.

“She was feisty and fun, and she truly loved life,” sister Karen Hooper said. “To know her was to love her. As I stand here today, I know that she and my mom and dad are smiling down on this miraculous moment.”

Years of investigating led to dead ends in the case until Arlington detectives and the FBI reopened it in 2021, using a new technique called “investigative genetic genealogy.”

“IGG, as we call it, combines unidentified crime scene DNA with meticulous genealogy research and the use of historical public records to identify new leads,” said Chad Yarbrough, a special agent with the FBI Dallas Office.

Investigators say genealogists were able to track down a distant relative, whose DNA proved Sharp was the killer.

“She had gone into her fiancé’s apartment,” said Karin Anderson, the host of The Reporter’s Notebook Podcast. “He was out of town at the time, and she made him a Valentine’s Day cake, a heart-shaped cake, and chatted a little bit that night on the phone with her sister. After she hung up, an intruder broke into the apartment and brutally attacked her. It was devastating.”

Anderson, a former Dallas Morning News reporter, has dedicated years to covering cold cases in North Texas, especially McAdams’ murder. She said she has spoken to the family a lot over the years about her tragic death.

“Families that are waiting for answers are completely dependent on the evolution of technology,” said Anderson, who also thinks genetic testing is a game-changer. “We’re just hoping that as things progress technology-wise, it will become less expensive to do this type of advanced testing and get answers to families.

“But as police departments are able to come up with the resources to pay for this testing, there’s more hope than ever to get these cases solved.”

Meanwhile, Arlington police say no charges will be filed because Sharp is deceased.

Even so, Hooper and the rest of the McAdams family are grateful to at least have closure.

“We hope that our story is going to provide that same level of hope to other families,” Hooper said. “We kind of thought this day might never come, but thanks to these detectives and thanks to genetic genealogy, it worked.”

Police and the FBI say they are hopeful this new technology can lead to solving more cold cases in the future. However, investigators also say they need the public’s help and are urging more people to submit their DNA to commercial databases.

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ORIGINAL STORY

The Arlington Police Department and FBI Dallas Field Office have announced a breakthrough in the brutal 1985 Valentine’s Day murder of 22-year-old Terri McAdams. The case had gone cold for decades with no suspects or leads.

Officials revealed that new technology and investigative genetic genealogy, which combines crime scene DNA with genealogy research, identified Bernard Sharp as the killer.

Sharp took his own life in a murder-suicide case months after McAdams’ murder.

Arlington homicide Detective Devon Coffer said a maintenance worker found McAdams, who had been sexually assaulted and brutally beaten, in her fiancé’s apartment at Walnut Ridge Apartments, 2525 Walnut Hill Circle.

Coffer said McAdams’ killer entered the apartment through a bedroom sliding door and that she died from blunt force trauma.

Police say no charges will be filed but expressed hope the development will provide the family with closure.

“Terri was an amazing girl, beautiful and full of life,” McAdams’ younger sister said at a news conference. “She was a friend to everyone. As I stand here today, I know she is smiling down on this miraculous moment.”

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