DNA Leads Gives Hope To Others' Unsolved Cases

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Three arrests in two weeks may be bringing a couple of cold cases closer to being closed.

The latest arrest was Friday.

James Cox, of Eldora, Mo., was charged in a 1986 murder in Jasper County, Iowa.

The arrest came just two days after DNA lead police to Martin Duffy, who is charged in the 20-year-old slaying of Karen Weber. The arrest was made after a DNA match in the DNA database.

Just last week, DNA was also the key evidence in a decade-old kidnapping and rape case in Des Moines. Jody McCullah was arrested in connection with that case.

The recent breaks in these cases are giving hope to families of other cold case victims.

Thelma Fisher's son, Steven, was murdered in 1983 at the Copper Dollar Ranch outside Newton. After nearly 24 years, his murder remains unsolved. But the recent DNA match in the Weber murder is giving Thelma new hope that her son's killer or killers will be found.

"We have one puzzle piece missing and the first thing I thought when I read that is maybe that is the puzzle piece right there, the DNA," Fisher said.