Overview

• Albany police announced Oct. 8 that DNA from the exhumed remains of Joseph Nowakowski matched evidence from the September 1964 killing of Catherine Blackburn.
• Investigators exhumed Nowakowski at Albany Rural Cemetery on Sept. 15 under a court order and confirmed the match through laboratory testing.
• The identification capped a multi-year effort involving Albany PD, the Criminal Investigation Resource Center at Russell Sage College, the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of Saint Rose, the FBI, and DNA lab Othram.
• A handkerchief recovered beneath Blackburn’s body yielded a profile used for forensic genetic genealogy, leading to Nowakowski’s relatives, who provided confirming samples.
• Nowakowski died in 1998, precluding prosecution; authorities cite his record that included a 1973 assault and say there is no indication he knew Blackburn.