ST. GEORGE — The cold case of an Ohio woman whose body was found in Southern Utah more than two decades ago has been closed.
During a multistate news conference conducted via Zoom on Wednesday, officials announced that sophisticated DNA testing was able to definitively put the woman’s husband at the scene where her body was found.
Although the husband died by suicide back in 2001, authorities said they hope the resolution of the case will help bring closure to the woman’s family.
Agent Brian Davis of Utah State Bureau of Investigation said the case started back on April 20, 1998 when the body of a woman was found alongside state Route 276 near Maidenwater Spring in Garfield County, approximately 38 miles north of Lake Powell.
The body, which had a gunshot wound to the head, had reportedly been wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape, tied with rope, and placed inside a sleeping bag before being rolled up in a carpet.
The woman, whose fingers had been cut off, was not able to be identified at the time, and the case went cold. For years, she was known only as the Maidenwater victim.
Then, in 2018, the case saw a major breakthrough after agents with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation released a photo of the Maidenwater victim in hopes someone would recognize her, even after two decades. Around that same time, the police department in Youngstown, Ohio, released a photo of Lina Reyes-Geddes, a local woman who’d been missing since 1998. A private citizen in California noticed the similarity between the photos and alerted authorities.
Family members in Mexico were subsequently contacted, and the dead woman was positively identified Reyes-Geddes, thanks to DNA testing that showed a match to her younger sister Lucero Reyes and at least one other family member.
Still, the question of who killed her remained unanswered. At one point, a known serial killer named Scott Kimball was considered a possible suspect, but he was eventually ruled out.
TODAY at 11 AM: Investigators Bring Maidenwater Cold Case to a Close
Media can join us on Zoom as State Bureau of Investigation agents and a detective from Youngstown, Ohio, share how this case was brought to a successful end after 24 years.https://t.co/e8xaSBfvYW pic.twitter.com/DGSHYf4rCR— Utah Public Safety (@UtahDPS) June 29, 2022
In 2019, a crime lab technician in West Jordan used a specialized machine to extract DNA material from the rope that had been used to bind the victim.
“Technology allows us to get a full DNA profile from just one nanogram of DNA,” Davis said during Wednesday’s press conference. “We had 117 nanograms, and we knew that 91% of that was male DNA.”
“We were very excited about this kind of a break to work with,” Davis added.
Because the body of Reyes-Geddes’ husband Edward Geddes had been cremated after his death in 2001, investigators had to seek out living relatives of his to try for a DNA match. Two willingly gave samples, while a third did so after a warrant was obtained.
All three samples showed a familial match to DNA that had been found on the rope, Davis said.
However, the DNA of a second male was also detected on the sample, which caused some confusion when it was linked to a completely unrelated murder case in Montana. Davis said that was determined to have been caused by accidental contamination of the sample by a knot expert who’d handled the rope. Once that foreign DNA was “unmixed” from the target sample, he said, that left Edward Geddes as the lone male person whose DNA was on the rope that had bound his wife’s body.
Davis said based on the “totality of circumstances,” Edward Geddes is the only one believed to be responsible for his wife’s murder.
“If Edward Geddes were still alive, we would pursue charges of homicide in connection to her death against him,” Davis noted.
Davis said the Reyes family has been supportive and appreciative of the collaborative investigative efforts.
“I know that it’s not the answer that she would have wanted when they found her sister in these circumstances,” Davis said of Lucero Reyes. “But they had suspected, in fact, quite frankly, their family thought that Edward had done something to her. They just could never prove it.”
“So, to have these answers, for them, at least to be able to bring her home … it’s given them closure,” he added. “They’ve been very gracious, very thankful.”
Davis also expressed gratitude for all factors that came together to reach a conclusion.
“To have this answer, finally, after 24 years, is incredible,” Davis said.
Also joining in the news conference from Ohio was detective Sgt. David Sweeney of the Youngstown Police Department. Like Davis, he thanked all those who had worked tirelessly on the case over the years.
Click here to watch an 8 1/2-minute YouTube video created in 2019, after the Maidenwater victim had been formally identified as Reyes-Geddes, courtesy of Utah Department of Public Safety.
For more information about Utah’s cold case database, which currently has more than 450 names, click here.
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