MSP, MSU students link suspect to 1982 cold case murder of South Lyon teen
Jakkar AimerySouth Lyon ― Forty one years after a South Lyon teen went missing, Michigan State Police ― with the help of some Michigan State University criminal justice students ― have finally identified a suspect in the 16-year-old's death, the same man linked to another teen's death in 1983.
For over four decades, authorities from MSP and the Livingston County Sheriff's Department worked to disentangle the mysterious death of Kimberly Louiselle of South Lyon, who was last seen March 20, 1982, near Eight Mile and Merriman roads in Livonia, according to state police.
Weeks later, Louiselle's body was located nearly 20 miles away from her last location, near a wooded trail in the Island Lake Recreation Area in Green Oak Township on April 14, 1982, authorities said in a statement Thursday.
Investigators were not able to land substantial leads to crack the case.
Efforts during summer 2022 were underway when MSP’s First District Cold Case Unit reopened the case in partnership with students from MSU’s School of Criminal Justice to review and re-examine Louiselle’s murder.
More:How DNA, genealogy websites are helping Michigan police solve decades-old cold cases
The collaboration spent months organizing and digitizing paper files, analyzing property and evidence as well as resubmitting items to MSP’s Forensic Science Division for additional testing, according to the release.
Meanwhile, investigators from Livingston County's cold case team were working on the 1983 homicide of 19-year-old Christine Castiglione of Redford.
Using a 2018 novel investigatory tool called Forensic Genealogy, they linked Castiglione’s homicide to 26-year-old Charles David Shaw, who died in November 1983.
Shaw's DNA was never submitted to CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, state officials said. The computer software program operates local, state and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Based on the connection between Castiglione and Shaw, a genetic profile was created and entered, authorities said.
In June, MSP's Forensic Science Division resubmitted evidence in Louiselle’s case by MSP’s Cold Case Unit and revealed a match to DNA in Castiglione, linking Shaw to the teen's body.
Investigators are currently exploring Shaw’s possible connection to additional crimes during the early 1970s until his death, officials added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact MSP at (313) 407-9379.
jaimery@detroitnews.com