DNA Testing Helps Police Identify Suspect In 43-Year-Old Berks County Cold Case

According to Pennsylvania State Police, DNA found on an envelope the alleged murderer sent to a newspaper helped solve the long-standing cold case homicide of Anna Kane.

On October 23, 1988, the body of 26-year-old Kane, who had been battered and murdered, was discovered abandoned near Ontelaunee Trail Road in Perry Township.

Credit: Pennsylvania State Police

She was last seen the morning she was discovered on Franklin Street and South 6th Street in Reading, Berks County.

According to State Police, DNA from an unidentified male was detected on several pieces of Kane's clothing on August 18, 2022, during the inquiry.

Credit: Pennsylvania State Police

The Reading Eagle newspaper received an anonymous letter about the crime that included many personal details two years after Kane's passing.

As a result of DNA tests on the envelope that matched the DNA on Kane's clothing, investigators believe the person who wrote the letter committed the murder.

Credit: Pennsylvania State Police

Scott Grim of Hamburg, Berks County, was identified by the State Police as a possible suspect after Parabon NanoLabs completed genetic genealogy on him.

Grim died in 2018 from natural causes, according to the State Police.

Troopers discovered that Grim had sent similar letters from a harassment case in 2002 after getting a direct sample of his DNA that matched the DNA on Kane's clothing.

The Reading Eagle envelope DNA and the proof on Kane's clothing were both matched by the DNA on those envelopes.