BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — For more than a century, a mystery has quietly lingered inside one of Bakersfield’s oldest cemeteries, a cold case dating back to 1923.
Now, a new partnership is underway to bring fresh attention to the case and try to uncover the identities of the victims at the center of this mystery.
A mother and her 18-month-old son, both killed over a century ago on April 18, 1923, are buried at Union Cemetery. Their story once made front-page news in the Bakersfield Californian.
Now, the “Give Them Back Their Names” campaign, announced at a recent press conference, aims to finally identify these victims.
To help, investigators are turning to STR testing, a DNA profiling method that analyzes repeating sequences in genetic code to establish biological relationships.
“At the time of this case and this tragic incident, we didn't have the ability to identify these victims, and we believe we have some technology now that can help us be able to go through using genetic genealogy and some DNA testing,” said Captain Nathan McCauley with the Bakersfield Police Department.
The Bakersfield Police Department, Kern County Secret Witness and the Notorious Bakersfield podcast have joined forces to raise up to $15,000 to pay for the STR testing.
“Sadly, the investigators at that time couldn't answer either one of the questions; whoever committed this crime got away with murder, literally,” said Robert Petersen, host of the Notorious Bakersfield podcast.
Law officials say they’ve never used this kind of testing for something like this, but they hope to learn a lot in the process.
Regardless, their goal is just to be able to put the victim’s names on their graves.
There's no guarantee, of course, that this will solve the case, but city leaders hope it could bring some sense of closure to the community.
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