Westminster police solve 1975 cold case after exhuming suspect’s body

DENVER (KDVR) — The Westminster Police Department said Wednesday they’ve solved a murder case from 48 years ago.

The case was first reported by a couple riding their motorcycles who found Teree Becker’s body on Dec. 6, 1975. According to a release from Westminster police , Becker’s body and some personal items appeared to be dumped in a field near 100th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard in Westminster.

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At that point, Becker hadn’t been seen since she hitchhiked to see her boyfriend in the Adams County Jail two days prior on Dec. 4, 1975.

An autopsy reported that she had been raped and named asphyxiation as her cause of death.

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Investigators worked and reviewed the Teree Becker cold case several times over the years. In 2003, technological advancements made it so the Colorado Bureau of Investigation could extract DNA from a piece of evidence to be analyzed.

The DNA test results generated an unknown male, and a profile was entered into a DNA database. However, there was no match, and no more developments surfaced in the case for another 10 years.

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