A US citizen was charged on Monday with sexually assaulting and murdering an 8-year-old girl in 1988, police said, a day after they said he had confessed to the crime. John Miller, 59, of Grabill, Indiana, appeared briefly in court in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to face charges of murdering April Tinsley, officials said. DNA evidence and records on publicly accessible genealogical websites helped investigators track down the suspect, the Fort Wayne police department said in a court filing on Sunday. That followed a pattern similar to that used to track down the "Golden State Killer" in California earlier this year. Tinsley's mother reported her missing from her family home on April 1, 1988. Investigators found her body three days later, about 20 miles (32 km) away. The arrest affidavit said that police, using outside labs, compared DNA evidence with information on genealogical websites, which narrowed the search to Miller and his brother.
Earlier this month, police began to watch Miller, and took three used condoms from his trash earlier this month, it said.

A US citizen was charged on Monday with sexually assaulting and murdering an 8-year-old girl in 1988, police said, a day after they said he had confessed to the crime. John Miller, 59, of Grabill, Indiana, appeared briefly in court in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to face charges of murdering April Tinsley, officials said. DNA evidence and records on publicly accessible genealogical websites helped investigators track down the suspect, the Fort Wayne police department said in a court filing on Sunday. That followed a pattern similar to that used to track down the "Golden State Killer" in California earlier this year. Tinsley's mother reported her missing from her family home on April 1, 1988. Investigators found her body three days later, about 20 miles (32 km) away. The arrest affidavit said that police, using outside labs, compared DNA evidence with information on genealogical websites, which narrowed the search to Miller and his brother.
Earlier this month, police began to watch Miller, and took three used condoms from his trash earlier this month, it said.