MYSTERY SOLVED: SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY MAN MURDERED DECADE AGO

Using genetic genealogy, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Park County coroner identified the body of a man murdered a decade ago.

The remains of John Cizek, 71, were discovered in a shallow, frozen grave at the Deer Creek Campground on May 28, 2024. Cizek, who was driving an RV, was last seen alive at the Big R store in Alamosa on June 12, 2016. He had been shot in the head.

Investigators used a DNA sample from a shirt from Cizek's home in Newark, California, to identify him - and the sample was "consistent with Cizek’s Slovakian ancestry," CBI said.

The suspect, David Little, 40, was arrested in Jefferson County after a shootout with detectives in an unrelated case on June 21, 2016. Detectives found Cizek's RV with Little's dog inside.

Little died in a jail suicide in October 2016. 

"Despite not locating Mr. Cizek, investigators developed substantial evidence that Mr. Little was responsible for his death," CBI said. "Prosecutors with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Little without a recovered body, an uncommon step in a homicide case."

[Photo: CBI]