Accused serial killer Bruce Lindahl identified as suspect in 1979 cold case murder of Kathy Halle, Illinois authorities announce

NORTH AURORA, Ill. — Suspected 1970s serial killer Bruce Lindahl, who has been dead for decades, has now been identified as the perpetrator of a 1979 cold case murder, Illinois authorities announced Wednesday.

On March 29, 1979, Kathy Halle, 19, left her apartment to pick up her sister at the Northgate Shopping Center in Aurora but never arrived, North Aurora police Detective Ryan Peat said at a news conference. Halle’s body was found in a river several weeks later, Peat said.

The case remained cold for decades.

In 2019, police in nearby Lisle, Illinois, reopened the 1976 murder case of 16-year-old Pamela Maurer and used DNA to link Lindahl to the killing, Peat said.

In 2020, North Aurora detectives working on Halle’s case met with Lisle investigators, and the evidence was reinspected and sent for additional testing, Peat said. While that DNA showed there was a mixture of two individuals, the DNA was too degraded for a working profile, Peat said.

In 2022, North Aurora police discovered that an evidence box containing Lindahl’s belongings was at the police station in nearby Naperville, Illinois, and that evidence showed Lindahl frequented the Northgate Shopping Center, where Halle worked, Peat said.

Peat said he next investigated a new DNA instrument: the “M-Vac” DNA wet vacuum, which can help collect DNA from older cases.

In June 2023, North Aurora police sent evidence from Halle’s case to DNA Labs International in Florida to be analyzed with the new “M-Vac” tool, Peat said.

In August this year, police received a report from the lab showing that “DNA that was approximately 9.4 trillion times more likely to come from Bruce Lindahl was present on Kathy’s clothing,” Peat said.

“We can conclude that Lindahl was responsible for the death of Kathy Halle,” Peat said, adding that police believe Halle was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment complex.

“Lindhal has been linked to several other cases in this area from that period,” Peat added.

Lindahl may be responsible for the murders of a dozen young women, according to The Associated Press. Lindahl died in 1981 at the age of 29; He accidentally punctured a major artery in his own leg and bled to death while attacking an 18-year-old man in Naperville, the AP reported.

“If he had not committed suicide during a homicide, we would have approved the first-degree murder charge against Bruce Lindahl and gone ahead with Halle’s case,” Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said.

Halle’s family said in a statement read out on their behalf: “While revisiting this case has been incredibly difficult for our family, we are deeply grateful to finally have closure after 45 long years. Thanks to advances in DNA technology and groundbreaking research tools, we are hopeful that other families will not have to endure the same pain and uncertainty that we have faced for so many years.”