COLORADO 1987 Cold Case Solved — The Killer Was a Fellow Soldier
Cold Case Redemption
14,741 views
On March 17, 1987, twenty-year-old Army Specialist Darlene Krashoc was found dead behind a restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had been strangled after a night out with fellow soldiers from Fort Carson. For thirty-two years, her killer walked free. His name never appeared on a single suspect list. No witness ever identified him. No database ever flagged him.
Darlene's parents, Paul and Betty Lou Krashoc, refused to let her case die. They kept boxes of newspaper clippings, called investigators year after year, and flew to Colorado to post fliers written in their daughter's voice. The detectives changed. The technology changed. The parents never did.
In 2017, Army CID used DNA phenotyping for the first time in the organization's history to generate composite images of the unknown suspect. Two years later, investigative genetic genealogy, the same technique that identified the Golden State Killer, returned a single name: Michael David Whyte. A retired Army sergeant who had been stationed at Fort Carson in 1987 and had been living in Colorado the entire time.
A discarded soda cup and a car-door swab confirmed the DNA match. Whyte was arrested in June 2019 at his suburban home in Thornton.
On June 24, 2021, thirty-four years after Darlene's murder, a jury convicted Whyte of first-degree murder after just four and a half hours of deliberation. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Paul and Betty Lou Krashoc were in the courtroom.
This documentary covers the full story: who Darlene was, the night she was killed, the investigation that went cold, the family that never stopped fighting, the DNA breakthroughs that changed everything, and the trial that finally delivered justice.
🔔 Subscribe to Cold Case Redemption for in-depth documentaries on the cases everyone thought would stay buried, and the breakthroughs that brought them back.
📌 CASE SUMMARY
Victim: Army Spc. Darlene "Krash" Krashoc, age 20
Date: March 17, 1987
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Convicted: Michael David Whyte, ret. SFC, U.S. Army
Verdict: First-degree murder, June 24, 2021
Sentence: Life without parole
Key breakthrough: Investigative genetic genealogy via Parabon NanoLabs and GEDmatch
📎 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
U.S. Army CID Official Case Summary (July 2021):
https://www.army.mil/article/248401/1...
Army CID Cold Case Press Release (PDF):
https://www.cid.army.mil/Portals/118/...
The Colorado Sun — "DNA Testing Leads to Break in Decades-Old Colorado Murder Case" by Carol McKinley (July 2019):
https://coloradosun.com/2019/07/29/co...
9NEWS Denver — "DNA Evidence Leads to Arrest of Thornton Man" (June 2019):
https://www.9news.com/article/news/dn...
9NEWS Denver — "Verdict Reached in Cold Case Murder of Fort Carson Soldier" (June 2021):
https://www.9news.com/article/news/cr...
Army Times — "Army Veteran Gets Life in Prison for 1987 Murder of Fort Carson Soldier" (June 2021):
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-a...
Stars and Stripes — "New DNA Techniques Helped Army Investigators Close 34-Year-Old Cold Case" (July 2021):
https://www.stripes.com/branches/army...
#ColdCase #TrueCrime #DarleneKrashoc #GeneticGenealogy #FortCarson #ColdCaseSolved #JusticeForDarlene #DNAForensics #ColdCaseRedemption #Unsolved #TrueCrimeDocumentary #MichaelWhyte #ArmyCID #ColoradoSprings
20 Comments
Their story is a heartbreaking reminder of the toll that an unsolved tragedy takes, not just in the initial grief, but in the decades of silence that follow. The fact that Darlene was taken at only 20 years old,a young woman with dreams of going airborne and a future full of promisemakes the resolution feel both like a triumph of justice and a poignant, long-overdue goodbye.Justice for Darlene finally arrived in that courtroom in 2021, proving that no life is ever truly forgotten as long as someone is still fighting for the truth.
"The friends", might as well killed her.
COLORADO 1987 Cold Case Solved — The Killer Was a Fellow Soldier
Cold Case Redemption
14,741 views
On March 17, 1987, twenty-year-old Army Specialist Darlene Krashoc was found dead behind a restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had been strangled after a night out with fellow soldiers from Fort Carson. For thirty-two years, her killer walked free. His name never appeared on a single suspect list. No witness ever identified him. No database ever flagged him.
Darlene's parents, Paul and Betty Lou Krashoc, refused to let her case die. They kept boxes of newspaper clippings, called investigators year after year, and flew to Colorado to post fliers written in their daughter's voice. The detectives changed. The technology changed. The parents never did.
In 2017, Army CID used DNA phenotyping for the first time in the organization's history to generate composite images of the unknown suspect. Two years later, investigative genetic genealogy, the same technique that identified the Golden State Killer, returned a single name: Michael David Whyte. A retired Army sergeant who had been stationed at Fort Carson in 1987 and had been living in Colorado the entire time.
A discarded soda cup and a car-door swab confirmed the DNA match. Whyte was arrested in June 2019 at his suburban home in Thornton.
On June 24, 2021, thirty-four years after Darlene's murder, a jury convicted Whyte of first-degree murder after just four and a half hours of deliberation. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Paul and Betty Lou Krashoc were in the courtroom.
This documentary covers the full story: who Darlene was, the night she was killed, the investigation that went cold, the family that never stopped fighting, the DNA breakthroughs that changed everything, and the trial that finally delivered justice.
🔔 Subscribe to Cold Case Redemption for in-depth documentaries on the cases everyone thought would stay buried, and the breakthroughs that brought them back.
📌 CASE SUMMARY
Victim: Army Spc. Darlene "Krash" Krashoc, age 20
Date: March 17, 1987
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Convicted: Michael David Whyte, ret. SFC, U.S. Army
Verdict: First-degree murder, June 24, 2021
Sentence: Life without parole
Key breakthrough: Investigative genetic genealogy via Parabon NanoLabs and GEDmatch
📎 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
U.S. Army CID Official Case Summary (July 2021):
https://www.army.mil/article/248401/1...
Army CID Cold Case Press Release (PDF):
https://www.cid.army.mil/Portals/118/...
The Colorado Sun — "DNA Testing Leads to Break in Decades-Old Colorado Murder Case" by Carol McKinley (July 2019):
https://coloradosun.com/2019/07/29/co...
9NEWS Denver — "DNA Evidence Leads to Arrest of Thornton Man" (June 2019):
https://www.9news.com/article/news/dn...
9NEWS Denver — "Verdict Reached in Cold Case Murder of Fort Carson Soldier" (June 2021):
https://www.9news.com/article/news/cr...
Army Times — "Army Veteran Gets Life in Prison for 1987 Murder of Fort Carson Soldier" (June 2021):
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-a...
Stars and Stripes — "New DNA Techniques Helped Army Investigators Close 34-Year-Old Cold Case" (July 2021):
https://www.stripes.com/branches/army...
#ColdCase #TrueCrime #DarleneKrashoc #GeneticGenealogy #FortCarson #ColdCaseSolved #JusticeForDarlene #DNAForensics #ColdCaseRedemption #Unsolved #TrueCrimeDocumentary #MichaelWhyte #ArmyCID #ColoradoSprings
Amazing 🎉