Woman's murder in Colorado finally solved — after nearly half a century

Colorado police have solved the murder of 20-year-old Teree Becker, 48 years after she was killed. 

According to the Westminster Police Department, Becker was last seen on Dec. 4, 1975, as she hitchhiked to visit her boyfriend at the Adams County Jail in Brighton, Colorado. Her body was found by a couple the next morning, and it appeared to have been dumped in a field with her clothing and other personal effects. Investigators found that she had been raped and asphyxiated. 

The cold case has been reviewed multiple times over the decades, police said, including in 2003, when the Colorado Bureau of Investigation took male DNA from a piece of evidence related to the case. That DNA generated a profile, which was entered in the Combined DNA Index System nationwide database, but no match was found. 

In 2013, a DNA profile submitted to the same database by the Las Vegas Police Department matched the profile generated in 2003. The Las Vegas profile had been generated while reviewing a 1991 cold case in the city, also involving a woman who had been raped and murdered. Police were able to determine that the same suspect was involved in both cases. Neither department had a suspect at the time. 

In 2018, the DNA profile created in Colorado was "determined to be a good candidate for genetic genealogy," the Westminster Police Department said. Genetic genealogy compares DNA samples to each other to find people who may be related to each other. In this case, it was used to lead police to Thomas Martin Elliott. 

Elliott was already deceased, but in October, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department obtained consent to exhume his body in relation to the two homicides. A detective from the Westminster Police Department was also in Las Vegas to witness the exhumation, the police department said. His bones were collected and analyzed, and in December, he was identified as a match to the unknown DNA profile, meaning that the Becker cold case was solved. 

"We are thrilled we were able to solve this cold case and hopefully bring closure to the friends and family of Teree Becker," the Westminster Police Department said. 

Detectives found that Elliott had spent some time in prison, including a burglary committed shortly before Becker's murder. Elliott was eventually convicted of and served six years in prison for the burglary. He was released from prison in Las Vegas in 1981, and then committed a crime against a child that led to a 10-year sentence. He was released again in 1991, and then went on to commit the murder that led to the Las Vegas DNA profile, according to the Westminster Police Department. 

Elliott died by suicide in October 1991, police said, and was buried in Nevada. 

Police said there are nine remaining cold cases in Westminster, Colorado, that will continue to be investigated. 

In:
• Colorado
• Cold Case
• Nevada
• Murder
• Crime
• Las Vegas

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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