DNA obtained from Steve Branch at an autopsy matched that of a sample left at the scene in Sitka, where Baggen was assaulted and strangled quite 24 years ago, state troopers said. Officers initially approached the 66-year-old on Aug. 3 at his Arkansas range in Austin, where he refused to willingly provide his DNA.
About a half hour later, troopers said Branch committed suicide.
A warrant was obtained to gather Branch’s DNA sample, which came back Monday as a positive match for evidence linked to Baggen’s murder.
“While Branch will never face a jury of his peers during this case, we will finally say that Jessica’s case is solved,” Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Amanda Price said at a press conference .
Baggen was last seen walking home from her sister’s residence within the early hours of the morning on May 4, 1996 — only one day after her birthday. Her body was found buried during a hollowed out area beneath a fallen tree shortly from the campus of the previous Sheldon Jackson College, troopers said.
A man confessed to the crime shortly after but no physical evidence linked him to the scene. While authorities said there was some indirect evidence , he was found acquitted on all charges.
Around the same time the Baggen was killed, Branch was arrested within the sexual abuse of another teenager in Sitka. He was later acquitted at trial and would eventually continue to maneuver to Arkansas in 2010.
Branch first emerged as a suspect in February 2019, after investigators uploaded a DNA sample to a public genealogy database.
Source:Daily News button
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