Renewed media attention for Teresa Sue Hilt

Renewed media attention for Teresa Sue Hilt. We did it! There is again a buzz in Tess’ cold case!

Before my postings, Tess did not have any Internet presence. Her case was in newspaper articles but they did not feature on any website or blog. All that has changed. Not only did Tess get a Memorial Page on Facebook courtesy of my friend Michall Holmes, the papers are starting to take notice. Now if you Google “Teresa Sue Hilt” you get search results! Finally!

“Now, nearly 40 years later, an old classmate of Hilt’s has started looking for answers. Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood said this week that a former Northwest student named Michael Holmes, who lives in Kansas City, has decided to play amateur sleuth in an attempt to identify Hilt’s slayer. Holmes has created a Facebook site and is inviting anyone who may have information about the murder to tell him about it. The site, which claims thousands of hits, also advertises a $5,000 reward. Wood said Holmes told him that his interest in the murder was rekindled after his wife asked how he was going to spend retirement. Holmes responded that he intended to “solve this homicide thing.”

I have posted some of my concerns in this case and would like to hear from others what their opinion is in this case. Note the excellent comments made by Sue Carney about this case: “I agree with Miriam’s suggestion that the stocking and shoelaces would offer forensic opportunities. DNA profiling didn’t exist in the ’70s, but if there has been a case review since then, DNA work might have been done. However, it’s only in the last few years that the technique has become sensitive enough to detect the low levels of DNA deposited from handling an item. Therefore, if these items have been preserved, it would be worth considering a low template DNA test of the ends of the laces and the stocking by recovering material from the regions of these thought to have been handled by whoever tied the knots.”

Thanks, Michall, keep up the good work. More about the press to come!