21 Solved in '21 : Day 3 : Kim Bryant
On January 26, 1979, 16-year-old Kim Bryant failed to come home from school, where she’d been registering for classes. She was reported missing. Kim was last seen near a Dairy Queen on Decatur Blvd near US 95, across from her high school.
Almost a month later, 3 teenagers, who were hunting with BB guns in a desert area near West Charleston Blvd and Buffalo Drive, found the nude body of Kim Bryant on February 20, 1979. She was in a shallow grave.
In 2008, police ran additional testing for DNA but were unable to gain a profile. Due to further advancements, they did this again in January of 2021 and discovered foreign male DNA. There were no matches in CODIS, but genetic genealogy allowed authorities to find a family member willing to share their DNA.
Through this, they were able to zero in on one person, who had been 19 at the time of Kim’s murder, and died in 1993.
The believed killer had attended the same school, and had been arrested for sexual assault in 1980, in a case that was dismissed. He was never a suspect in Kim’s death.
A statement from Kim Bryant’s father was read at the press conference announcing the closing of her case. “Kim was a beautiful girl with a bright future, and it makes me happy that something is being done to help solve cases such as hers.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dna-helps-identify-suspect-16-year-girls-1979/story?id=81465838
https://www.newspapers.com/image/150586964/?terms=kim%20bryant&match=1
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/us/las-vegas-cold-case-solved-dna-kim-bryant/index.html
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2021/nov/29/1979-slaying-las-vegas-teen-kim-bryant-solved/
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/metro-to-provide-update-on-1979-murder-cold-case/