by During the morning of June 5, 1988, residents of a one Colorado Springs town were awoken to the horrifying screams of a woman.
These neighbors resided next to a popular bar area where many would drink and leave the pubs drunk. Since loud noise and screams were quite common, no one thought that the authorities needed to be called.
Sadly, only a few hours later, cops find the body of Mary Lynn Vialpando. The 24-year-old wife and mother had been assaulted, and stabbed to death. Her killer ran way, while leaving her body inside of an alleyway.
Mary was described by her loved ones as beautiful, independent, and strong. Unfortunately, her case went cold.
According to The Gazette, Mary’s family had all but given up hope of finding her killer in the months leading up to the 30-year anniversary of her death. Mary’s daughter, Coral Vialpando, said that whatever hope they had left rested in DNA evidence taken from the killer’s DNA, “and they were even skeptical about that, criticizing the reliability of composite sketches cobbled together from the DNA.”
Then, after 30 years, the cold case broke wide open. The police made an arrest.
Mary’s family was shocked to finally learn the killer’s identity. But they were even more stunned by how old he would have been at the time of Mary’s murder.
