Host Anne-Marie Green and 48 Hours Correspondent Erin Moriarty discuss the cold case murder of Jeanie Childs, who was stabbed to death in 1993. Almost three decades later, her killer was finally convicted. They discuss the investigative genetic genealogy that led authorities to Jerry Westrom, a local businessman and father of three, and the bloody footprints left at the crime scene that were pivotal at trial. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What happened to Jeanie Childs?
genetic genealogy DNA that seems to place him in that apartment. And you have the area right below the big toe of the left foot that seems to also place Jerry Westrom in her blood on the day she was murdered. And then you have that interview where he doesn't seem to show a lot of emotion. But that's that really kind of describes the case against Jerry Westrom.
In August of 2022, Jerry Westrom went on trial for Jeannie Chow's murder. Now, the jury heard from a defense witness who told police that she saw Jeannie Childs with a blonde man wearing a trench coat on the day she was murdered. But I'm wondering if there were any other suspects that the jury did not get a chance to hear about. So I had mentioned Arthur Gray.
The judge did allow the defense to raise Arthur Gray. He was living in the apartment with... Jeannie, they did have a history of abuse. She had filed a police report and his hair was found on her hand. But he had an alibi. But there there were some really interesting other possible people of interest. So they found blood right in the stairwell that belonged to a guy named John S.Y.,
And so they interviewed John Eswa. And I should point out, none of his DNA was found in the apartment, but his blood was found in the stairwell. And they interview him, and he's a very friendly guy. But when they compared his feet to those unknown bloody footprints, it came out inconclusive. The jury never heard any of that. And a more interesting person is James Luther Carlton.
So James Luther Carlton was convicted of killing a woman a year later, Jody Dover, in her apartment. And here's why it's eerily similar in Jody Dover's murder. There were also bloody footprints found, and that's so unusual. And one of those footprints was found to belong to Carlton. We do not know whether Carlton was at all investigated or killed. talked to at the time in this case.
But he's now serving a life sentence for Jody Dover's murder. So the jury, again, did not hear anything about Carlton or John Eswine.
And so ultimately, the jury does find Jerry Westrom guilty of murder in the first and second degrees. And then on September 9th, 2022, he's sentenced to life in prison. In 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed Westrom's second degree conviction, but it upheld the first degree murder conviction. I'm just curious about why they reversed the second degree conviction.
Well, every state is different. You know, even whether you have a first degree or second degree murder is different by state by state. And I'm just going to read to you what the ruling is, because I thought this was interesting, that according to the ruling in the state of Minnesota, a defendant may be convicted of either the crime charge, which was murder or an included offense, but not both.
And so every lesser degree of murder is an included offense. So they decided that that second degree murder was an included offense. So he could be convicted of first degree, but not both. Not the included offense. So that's why they reversed it. But he's, you know, he's remaining in prison on first degree.
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