State police: Mercer County cold case closed after 4 decades
Pennsylvania state police say modern DNA testing and genealogy methods allowed them to close a 42-year-old Mercer County cold case and provide closure to the victim’s family.
The remains of Edwin Rodriguez, of Chicago, Ill., discovered in 1980 in Wolf Creek Township, were positively identified and returned to his family, police said this week.
On Nov. 6, 1980, state police discovered a burning body near Interstate 80 in Wolf Creek. The victim had third-degree burns on 70% of his body, and at the time he could not be identified. An autopsy determined the body was a man, about 115 pounds, between 16-19 years old.
At the time, police created a composite of what they believed the victim’s face looked like to try and identify him.
In 2007, a DNA profile was obtained through evidence collected at the autopsy and, in January 2019, it was sent to Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia for DNA testing and genealogy screening. A first cousin of the victim was identified and contacted, which led to the identification of the body as Rodriguez.
Police said further investigation revealed that Rodriguez and a family friend, Nestor Quintanal, left Chicago for Florida in the fall of 1980. Rodriguez’s family never heard from him again.
Mercer County District Attorney Peter Acker said that, after reviewing the case, charges would have been filed against Quintanal, had he not died in Florida in 2002. He was 71 at the time.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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