Chip Chick
Her backpack had clothes from her gym class inside, along with some of her books from school and her purse.
In the following three weeks, investigators worked hard to try to come up with any leads in Kim’s case, without any luck.
Then, a month after her disappearance on February 20th, 3 children came across her body.
Kim had been kidnapped, she had been sexually assaulted, she had been murdered, and then her killer dumped her out in the desert. Now, Kim’s killer left behind some of his DNA, but back in 1979, they didn’t have the technology that exists now.
And so, Kim’s case went cold for 42 long years, until a philanthropist and Las Vegas local by the name of Justin Woo gifted money to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department with the intention of it being used to aid in a cold case investigation.
Detectives decided to invest Justin’s generous donation into Kim’s case, and they sent out the DNA from her killer to a company called Othram Inc.
Othram was able to figure out who killed Kim through genealogical research and advanced DNA testing, and several days ago they passed his name on to the detectives working Kim’s case.
Johnny Blake Peterson is the man who killed Kim, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced that in a press conference on Monday. Johnny died in 1993, so he, unfortunately, can’t be arrested and prosecuted for what he did.
“Kim was a beautiful girl with a bright future, and it makes me happy that something is being done to solve cases such as hers,” Kim’s dad said in a statement.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; pictured above is a press release regarding Kim Bryant
