Police in Washington state want the public to take a good look at three sketches, made with cutting-edge DNA technology, of a man who might have kidnapped and killed a young Saanich couple while they were travelling to Seattle in November 1987.
At a news conference Wednesday, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office released images of what the killer of 18-year-old Tanya Van Cuylenborg and 20-year-old Jay Cook might look like now and in the past.
DNA was collected at the crime scenes but did not match any profiles in law enforcement databases, said Sheriff Ty Trenary. But police are hopeful that a technology called DNA phenotyping will bring them one step closer to identifying the killer.
Parabon NanoLabs used crime-scene DNA to produce predictions of what the suspect might look like at the ages of 25, 45 and 65, said Snohomish County Investigations Capt. Jeff Miller. The sketches show a white man with hazel or green eyes, light brown hair and very pale skin. He might have freckles and male pattern baldness.
“Keep in mind the person could have been heavier or thinner or could have had facial hair. His hair could have been longer. He could have been balding,” Miller said.
“We believe someone knows who our person of interest is. Maybe you were too afraid to come forward at the time or you thought somebody else already had. Now is the time to share what you have seen or heard.”
He urged anyone with information to call the Snohomish County tip line at 425-388-3845.
The families of the victims are offering a $50,000 reward for information identifying the suspect.
If the information provides a DNA match to a person, alive or dead, the reward will be paid. The reward will be offered until Dec. 31.
Det. Jim Scharf of the Snohomish cold-case unit, who has worked on the case with Skagit County detectives for 13 years, said the sketches are giving police hope that someone will recognize a person who was in the area at the time.
Cook and Van Cuylenborg boarded the Coho ferry on Nov. 18, 1987, in the Cook family van, heading for Seattle.
Van Cuylenborg’s body was found in a ditch in a wooded area of Skagit County on Nov. 24, 1987. Cook’s body was found two days later in neighbouring Snohomish County at Monroe, near a minimum-security prison that has since closed.
Police are also looking for information on items belonging to the couple that were never found — including a green canvas backpack and a black jacket belonging to Cook, and a Minolta X-700 35 mm camera that belonged to Van Cuylenborg. The camera lens was recovered and traced to a pawnshop in Portland, Oregon, in 1990, but the camera body, serial number 2067048, has never been found, Scharf said.
“Maybe a relative who looks similar to one of these composites gave you a Minolta or you might have bought a camera like this from a neighbour around that time,” Scharf said. “The smallest detail could end up being the lead that we need to solve this case.”
The news conference in Everett, Washington, was difficult for Cook’s sisters, Kelly Cook and Laura Baanstra, and Baanstra’s husband, Gary. Although she was standing right beside the sketches, Baanstra said she had not looked at them.
“I will. I’m not ready yet,” she said. “That could be the likeness of the person who killed my brother. It’s tough.”
The Cook family remembers positive things about Jay, not the specifics of how he died, Gary Baanstra said. Just getting to the news conference has been an emotional journey, he said.
“It’s very shocking.”
“Jay and Tanya were an innocent young couple in love, at the start of their lives,” Laura Baanstra said. “On Nov. 18, 1987, I remember Jay was getting ready to leave and he hadn’t had anything to eat. I knew because I was having a sandwich and he asked if he could have a bite.”
She gave him half of her sandwich. As he drove away, she stood in the window waving. “When your brother, or sister, daughter or a loved one walks out the door, you have no way to know that’s the last time you will ever see them,” said Laura Baanstra, who called their murders a calculated crime.
Sgt. Jennifer Sheahan-Lee was also at Wednesday’s news conference. In 1987, the then-18-year-old helped search for evidence near Van Cuylenborg’s body and found a shell casing. “We know the families are waiting for an answer. There’s a bit of hope we’ll be able to develop something out of this.”
No one has ever been arrested for the murders. At the time, police had 350 suspects. The new DNA technology has ruled out anyone who is not white, and men with blue and brown eyes.
