A tragically lost life

Marise Chiverella was only 9-years-old when she met a terrible fate. On her way to St. Joseph’s School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania she was kidnaped, assaulted, and brutally killed. That tragic day she was going to school, carrying with her canned goods for feast day, before starting her classes. She was last seen at 8:10 am, her parents were expecting her to come home for lunch, which sadly never happened.

Soon after, an official search party began. Unfortunately, her body was found in a coal stripping pit approximately two miles away.

Looking for answers

As time passed by, different classes of inspectors took an effort to solve the crime. More than 230 members of the state police department were involved. Hundreds of people were interviewed, and a pile of 4,600 pages of material relevant to the case was conducted. They never found a relevant suspect until 2020.

New DNA technology provides shocking evidence

The autopsy revealed that the little girl was brutally hit on top of her head, once in the right temple. She was found with bonds on her wrists and ankles, and her scarf was in her mouth. This type of criminal evidence was kept for decades. With the advancement in science in the 1980s, a DNA sample was collected from her jacket.

“The DNA lab in Pennsylvania State Police back in 2007 managed to develop a clear suspect profile from the body fluids found on Marise’s clothing,” stated Anthony Petroski. “After that, matching DNA profiles for the original suspects were conducted and submitted to our lab.”

As the procedure goes, the DNA was checked every month but sadly there was no result. Back in 2019, the police decided to release Parabon Nanolabs images of the alleged suspect. What this technique does is that it can accurately predict a person’s profile. With the help of a DNA strand that gives information about eyes, hair color, skin type, and gender.

It predicted a white male with green or hazel eyes.

The appearance of Eric Schubert

Eric Schubert, a 20-year-old history major at Elizabethtown College, entrepreneur, and owner of ES Genealogy decided to step up and offer his services for free as an act of philanthropy. Eric uses his methods to help other police agencies further solve cold cases that were previously unsolvable.

This new-age technology blends the use of standard genealogical research with DNA testing.

Using this new DNA testing method for the first time in 20 years, the police had established a distant family connection to a man named James Paul Forte. Thanks to Eric Schubert they were able to track down an entire family tree, which was quite beneficial to mark possible offenders.

Schubert was convinced that Forte was the one that committed the crime. It was a complicated assumption since Forte was deceased a long time ago.

Radical measures took place and the state police exhumed the body. They tried to compare the DNA samples and found a match with the genetic material left on the jacket.

“It wasn’t a surprise that this was the hardest cold case that I stumbled upon. I wouldn’t exaggerate if I say that this was the hardest thing I ever did in my entire life,” Schubert commented.

“Nevertheless, I feel a sense of personal pride that I managed to be a leading figure in the team that gathered all forces in to provide answers to the Chiverella family.”

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Source: Inside Edition

USA Herald