BELLIGNHHAM, Wash. – A state appeals court has overturned the cold-case murder convictions against a man accused of killing a young Canadian couple in 1987.
Detectives arrested William Earl Talbott II in 2018 using genetic genealogy to identify him as the killer of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg.
That involves finding suspects by entering crime-scene DNA profiles into public databases that people have used for years to find out about their family trees.
Cook and Van Cuylenborg disappeared during a short trip to Washington State.
Van Cuylenborg’s body was found bound and shot near Alger and Cook was found beaten to death 60 miles away.
Their van and other evidence was discovered near the Bellingham Greyhound Bus station.
The appeals court found that one of the jurors should have been dismissed because she said she didn’t know if she could be fair in a trial about violence against women.