43-Year-Old Michigan Cold Case Solved With DNA

Some cases never get cold... they just sit quietly, waiting for science to catch up. For one Michigan family looking for answers for over 40 years, the technology finally caught up to the man who had gotten away with murder.

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Back in 1983, 16-year-old Sheri Jo Elliott disappeared on her way to the bus stop in Flint. According to Fox News, four days later, she was found along a rural road in Blumfield Township, a victim of sexual assault and multiple gunshot wounds. Then, no answers. For more than four decades.

A Michigan Murder That Went Cold

Despite an extensive investigation at the time, the case stalled because 1983 tech had all the forensic power of a flashlight with a dying battery. The evidence existed, but the tools to unlock it didn't.

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That changed in 2023, when the Michigan State Police (MSP) reopened the case, working with the Western Michigan University Cold Case Program to digitize and reexamine decades of old material.

The DNA That Finally Spoke

Using forensic-grade genome sequencing and genetic genealogy, investigators built a DNA profile that CBS reports pointed to Roni Collins of Grand Blanc, Michigan. Collins died by suicide in early 2026 before providing a sample, but investigators obtained DNA during his autopsy. That sample was a confirmed match to evidence collected in 1983, finally identifying him as Elliott's killer.

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There will be no trial. No courtroom moment. But after 43 years, thanks to the MSP, Western Michigan University's Cold Case Program, and the foresight to preserve evidence for over 40 years, Sheri Jo Elliot's killer has been named.