The chilling mystery of a murdered woman found wrapped in a carpet nearly 25 years ago has finally been solved with a rope.
Lina Reyes-Geddes, 38, was found dumped by passers-by on the side of a road near Maidenwater Spring, Utah, on April 20, 1998.
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She was covered in a plastic bag, wrapped in duct tape, tied with a rope, and thrown into a sleeping bag before being wrapped in carpet, officials said.
Police have determined that Lina was killed by her husband, Edward Geddes, who died three years after the 2001 killing, using advanced DNA technology.
Almost 25 years later, the detective was able to use a special vacuum cleaner to pull the DNA out of the rope.
Bryan Davis, an agent at the Utah Bureau of Investigation, said Edward was cremated. That is, police officers needed to obtain DNA from two relatives to compare the DNA on the rope.
Davis said another set of male DNA was found on the rope, but later they were excluded and Edward was identified as the murderer.
When Edward was questioned by a police officer in 1998, he claimed that his wife was traveling from Ohio to Texas and then to Mexico.
However, Davis believes that Lina was killed in Ohio and then transferred to Utah.
The detective said he had no idea why Edward had traveled more than 1,800 miles to abandon his wife’s body.
Even before the groundbreaking DNA evidence, there was circumstantial evidence pointing to Edward as a murderer, Davis said.
“There are many ups and downs in law enforcement, but I give top priority to this case just to make you feel better,” he told the New York Post.
“There are at least some closures and at least the answer.”
He told KSL-TV: “Their family thought Edward had done something to her.
“They didn’t prove it … it was always their premonition.”
When Lina was found dead, her body was not identified by local police, and she was not reported missing by her husband at the time, so the incident cooled.
Davis said Lina was reported missing just five months after her last aunt who lived in Mexico was seen alive.
In 2018, Lina’s sister Lucero traveled from Mexico to provide a DNA sample, and police officers were able to confirm that her body belonged to Lina.
She was known as the “Victim of the Maiden” for only 10 years.
In 2019, she said: But now I know what happened.
“I’m here to take her home, I don’t think I’m, but I’ll take her home with me.”
Davis said:
“It wasn’t what they wanted or expected, but at least they knew where she was. They knew she was back.”
Early in the investigation, police investigated the convicted serial killer Scott Kimball as a potential suspect. He has killed at least four people and is suspected of many other unsolved killings.
But Davis said he was eventually excluded as a suspect.