Cold Case 101: College Sleuths Try Their Hands

(AP) - Investigators in the 2001 slaying of Chandra Levy have prepared an arrest warrant for a Salvadoran immigrant convicted of similar attacks in the park where the former intern disappeared, a source close to the investigation said. An arrest is thought to be imminent. A second source said the break in the case came in part from DNA evidence. More»

Washington Post investigates murder mystery after 7 years

(NEWSER) - The storm of press on the 2001 murder of Chandra Levy gave way to the 9/11 attacks—but the mystery was never solved. Today, the Washington Post begins a 12-part series probing the investigation and a number of pitfalls along the way. The first piece examines the early stages of the case as Levy went missing and Washington police struggled to gather clues to her disappearance. More»

Police believe results will narrow search for Sarah Yarborough's killer

(NEWSER) - In December, stumped Washington state authorities sent a DNA sample from an unsolved 1991 murder to a forensic consultant in California—and though she didn't return with a match to the murderer himself, she did figure out who his 17th-century ancestors were. The DNA profile closely matched the family of Robert Fuller, whose relatives came to America on the Mayflower; the consultant found the connection by looking at genetic profiles donated by people tracing their genealogy. Of course, Fuller—who lived in Salem, Mass., beginning in 1630—probably has thousands of descendants, but detectives are optimistic that the results will help narrow their search. More»

Joran Van der Sloot appears in Peruvian court over murder of Stephany Flores

(NEWSER) - Joran Van der Sloot has officially admitted to killing at least one woman: He pleaded guilty today to the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores , a killing that occurred five years to the day after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. "Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely," he told the court in Lima, Peru. "I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad." His lawyer then argued that the killing was born from the "extreme psychological trauma" Van der Sloot suffered in the wake of the Holloway vanishing. More»

Police performing an autopsy today

(NEWSER) - A British mystery is officially a murder mystery: Police say that the human remains discovered on the grounds of Sandringham, the queen's massive rural estate, belong to a woman, and that the case is being treated as a murder. An autopsy scheduled for today will hopefully shed some light on the identity of the victim, as well as her cause of death, reports the AP . It's not clear if the woman, age unknown, was killed on the 20,000-acre estate or moved there after death. More»