With advances in DNA testing techniques, Edward Morgan was eventually arrested on capital murder charges related to the fatal stabbing and sexual assault of the young woman.
These new technologies finally serve justice for Jane by providing comfort to her family, who had spent more than three decades wondering what exactly happened to their daughter.
Thompson’s body was found behind a warehouse on Irving Boulevard on February 13, 1984. Her case went cold for 25 years until the Dallas Police Department reopened her in 2009 and tested male DNA. However, there was no match and the case went cold again.
In 2018, a detective from the Dallas Police Department’s cold case unit reopened the case and began working with the Dallas County DA s*xual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) team to try new types of forensic testing techniques. Two years later, the FBI joined the team to help identify Thompson’s killer.
Authorities submitted the unknown male DNA profile for forensic genetic genealogy analysis (FGG), which uses genealogy websites to identify potential relatives of a suspect based on DNA collected at a crime scene.
The same technology was used to capture the Golden State Killer.
Edward Morgan was identified as the suspect through FGG, and DNA testing confirmed this week that he matched the unidentified swab profile taken at the 1984 autopsy.
Morgan is currently being held in the Dallas County Jail and faces a capital murder charge. His bail is set at $500,000, and it’s unclear if he has engaged an attorney.
What happened to Jane Thompson?
According to the Dallas Morning News, Thompson was an aspiring model who worked in a florist shop and restaurant.
She moved to Dallas about six months before her death after living in Houston and Los Angeles.
Thompson was last seen two days before she was found dead taking a bus to a medical clinic that turned out to be closed. She was strangled with her own leg warmers.
The case was solved through cooperation between the Dallas Police Department, the FBI and the SAKI team, Dallas County Assistant District Attorney and SAKI Chief Leighton D’Antoni said.
“Working together, we will continue to solve the toughest cold cases Dallas has ever seen,” D’Antoni said.
“I look forward to working with all of our local law enforcement agencies to use advances in forensic testing techniques to identify, apprehend and prosecute the most dangerous predators hiding among us. We will never, ever forget these cases, our victims and their families.” added D’Antoni.
He added that the case was another example of how advances in forensic testing techniques are being used to identify, arrest and prosecute dangerous predators.
Following the arrest, Thompson’s sister, Selena Tomasello, posted a montage of family photos to Facebook, writing that authorities have “found the man who killed my sister 38 years ago.”
She also made several posts about her sister over the years, including one in 2014, 30 years after her death.
Mary Jane Thompson, you are loved and missed. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I hope they find the man who killed you 30 years ago so you can rest in peace. I love you sister – rip,” she wrote.
