Tech breakthrough solves 33-year-old Vegas cold case, links to 1975 Colorado murder

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) is crediting recent technology advancements in helping solve two cold cases spanning more than three decades across state lines.

LVMPD detectives said the cold case of Sherrie Bridgewater dates back 33 years, she was found strangled to death after being sexually assaulted at a Las Vegas apartment in 1991. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said in May of 1991, officers responded to reports of a suspicious murder at an apartment on the 1000 block of West Monroe Avenue near Owens and H Street.

According to investigators at the time, Bridgewater's body was found in a position that led investigators to believe she had been sexually assaulted. The Clark County Coroner's Office later determined Bridgewater was sexually assaulted and strangled to death.

At that time, investigators say the case went cold. Still, it was not until 2013 that technology advancements allowed for a breakthrough in the case when cold case detectives could identify the suspect's DNA profile from evidence left at the scene.

Police said that evidence then led to the creation of the suspect DNA profile, which was uploaded to the National DNA Index System (CODIS). At that same time, police said the suspect's profile matched another suspect's DNA profile from a 1975 unsolved homicide case with the Westminster Police Department in Westminster, Colorado.

Upon collaboration to gather evidence in both cases, both departments found the DNA profile matched the cold case file of Teree Becker, who was found strangled to death on Dec. 6, 1975, after being sexually assaulted and left in a field in Westminster, Colorado.

Police said in 2018, after connecting the two cases, both LVMPD and the Westminster Police Department began working together to identify the suspect through forensic genetic genealogy testing. Through that testing, police identified that suspect as Thomas Martin Elliott, later finding out he had committed suicide in Las Vegas in November of 1991.

After seeking assistance from the Vegas Justice League, an organization who's helped the department solve several cold cases, they were able to receive funding from them, allowing police to exhume Elliot's body from a Nevada cemetery for a DNA sample confirming Elliot as the suspect in both cases, police said.

LVMPD Lt. Johansson added the department is backtracking data to see if any additional cases may be connected to the same suspect.