EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man authorities say is linked by DNA evidence to the 1987 deaths of a young Canadian couple has been charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
The Daily Herald reports that 55-year-old William Earl Talbott II of SeaTac was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Authorities say they used information from public genealogy websites to pinpoint Talbott as a suspect, then arrested him after getting a DNA sample from a cup that fell from his vehicle.
Talbott is charged in the November 1987 killings of 18-year-old Tanya Van Cuylenborg and 20-year-old Jay Cook.
Van Cuylenborg had been sexually assaulted, bound with plastic ties and shot in the head. Cook’s battered body was found about 75 miles (120.7 kilometers) away.
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