A student was raped and murdered in her fiancé’s apartment on Valentine’s Day. Forty years later, genealogists finally crack the case

Terri McAdams ‘was an amazing girl, beautiful and full of life,’ her sister said

Genealogists have identified the man suspected of killing a 22-year-old Texas college student in a 40-year-old cold case.

Terri McAdams was at her fiancé’s Arlington, Texas apartment on Valentine’s Day, 1985. Her fiancé was out of town on a business trip, so McAdams decided to make him a heart-shaped cake. Afterward, she called her soon-to-be sister-in-law, CBS News reports.

However, moments after hanging up the phone, someone entered through a sliding door in the bedroom before beating, sexually assaulting and killing McAdams.

Her body was found in the apartment by a maintenance worker.

For nearly 40 years, McAdams’ case went unsolved. However, advanced technology and “investigative genetic genealogy” have allowed police to identify her suspected killer: Bernard Sharp.

Terri McAdams was brutally murdered in her fiancé’s apartment in 1985. Decades later, police have used advanced technology to identify her suspected killer (Arlington Police Department)

Nine months after Sharp is thought to have killed McAdams, he was involved in another string of killings in Arlington. He shot three people, killing two, before dying by suicide, police said.

Karen Hooper, McAdams’ sister, described the University of Texas at Austin student as “feisty and fun,” and someone who “truly loved life.”

“Terri was an amazing girl, beautiful and full of life,” Hooper said. “She was a friend to everyone. As I stand here today, I know she is smiling down on this miraculous moment.”

“To know her was to love her,” she continued. “As I stand here today, I know that she and my mom and dad are smiling down on this miraculous moment.”

Police say Bernard Sharp killed McAdams before dying by suicide nine months later (Arlington Police Department)

For decades, police could not link Sharp to the murder because they had no DNA samples. However, earlier this year, investigators identified a close relative who provided DNA.

Using their sample, genealogists determined Sharp was a genetic match to the DNA found in the apartment of McAdams’ fiancé.

“Investigative genetic genealogy is one of the most valuable tools that law enforcement has access to today,” Chad Yarbrough, a special agent with the FBI office in Dallas, said in a statement.