Montana sheriff says 28-year-old cold case slaying solved

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — The man law enforcement officials say is responsible for the long-unsolved death of 15-year-old Danielle Houchins at a popular fishing access site a few miles south of Belgrade nearly 28 years ago has been identified.

Investigators, family members and other sources with direct knowledge of the details of the case told Montana Free Press that cutting-edge forensic DNA genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy recently led authorities to the man they say killed Houchins: 55-year-old Paul Nathaniel Hutchinson, of Dillon.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer confirmed that at a Thursday press conference in Bozeman that was streamed live on the department’s Facebook page.

According to Springer, Hutchinson died by suicide on July 24, 10 hours after Gallatin County investigators approached him outside his office in Beaverhead County to interview him about Houchins’ death. Days later, DNA collected from Hutchinson after his death matched DNA evidence collected from Houchins’ body, providing what Springer described as “100% confirmation” that Hutchinson was the killer.

Hutchinson, who authorities say was previously unknown to law enforcement, was a longtime fisheries biologist for the Bureau of Land Management based in the agency’s Dillon Field Office. An avid outdoorsman and family man with a 22-year marriage and two adult children, Hutchinson had been living beneath law enforcement’s radar about 100 miles southwest of the crime scene until new forensic DNA technology and a Virginia-based genetic genealogist connected him to Houchins.

Springer said authorities recently notified Hutchinson’s family of their findings.

“I feel sorrow for the Hutchinson family,” Springer said in an interview with MTFP. “They were unaware, of course, and in many ways, they are also victims of this man.”