Overview

• Investigators exhumed Nowakowski’s body on Sept. 15 and bone samples matched DNA recovered from Catherine Blackburn’s home.
• A handkerchief found beneath the victim’s body produced a usable profile through wet‑vacuum extraction at Othram, then the FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team traced relatives.
• Police said there is no indication Blackburn and Nowakowski knew each other.
• Nowakowski died in 1998 and had a criminal record that included a 1973 assault in Schenectady and several burglaries.
• Blackburn’s family expressed gratitude at a press conference as officials move to expedite DNA testing in other cold cases.