Editorial: A lesson in the value of remembering cold cases

When someone in the family dies, it takes time for closure, time to move on from the grief.

When that family member is murdered at the age of 15 and it takes nearly 33 years to find, convict and sentence her killer, closure is elusive if ever fully achieved.

But for Sandra Wesselman, that day is at hand and she finally can put some of the pain to rest.

"What an amazing day," she said Tuesday after Michael Jones was sentenced to 80 years - essentially life in prison for the 64-year-old - for killing Sandra's daughter Kristy in 1985. "I can go home today and try to be a real person, whatever that is. It's a joyful day and a very sad day. We will always miss Kristy."

Heartbreaking. Maddening. Unfathomable.

All those emotions and more have been Sandra's life since Kristy, of Glen Ellyn, was raped and murdered on July 21, 1985. She had no answers until Jones - never before a suspect in the case - was linked to the slaying in September 2015 through a DNA sample he was required to give in Champaign County as part of a domestic battery case, the latest crime, authorities would learn, in many, including at least two other sexual assaults. The victims in those cases spoke out this week after his sentencing as well.

It's a reminder that cold cases should never be forgotten, especially when technology has evolved to help solve decades-old mysteries.

"That obviously was the linchpin in the case," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said, as reported by Daily Herald staff writer Justin Kmitch.

"DNA evidence that was not available in 1985 but is available today is truly an incredible tool, and it was the key to this case."

Added Berlin: "This defendant was nowhere in the police report. He was not from around here and he was never one of the suspects that was looked at ... Unfortunately, there's some questions in this case that we may never have the answers to and (why Jones was near Glen Ellyn that day) is one of them."

More important to the Wesselmans are the unanswered questions about Kristy herself and what her life would have been like had she lived. It's those questions that now keep them from complete closure.

"What she would have become will forever be an unfinished book," her mom Sandra said in court this week. "Our pain from the loss of Kristy will never be completely healed. The pain of having a child murdered is life-shattering."

Yes, closure is elusive. But there is comfort in knowing the man responsible for Kristy's death is finally paying the price.

As DuPage County Judge George Bakalis said this week. "Based on his conduct, the defendant has earned each and every day of his sentence."