Police finally solve the mystery of the 1996 murder of a 15-year-old Montana girl. But hours after questioning her, her killer is found dead.

Nearly three decades after a Montana teenager was found face down in a river, DNA evidence has finally led to her killer — a father of two who killed himself just hours after being questioned by investigators.

Danielle “Danni” Houchins was 15 years old when she left her home in Belgrade on the morning of September 21, 1996 and never returned.

It was Houchins’ worried mother who discovered her daughter’s truck at the Cameron Bridge fishing access on the Gallatin River. Later that night, the teen’s body was found in the shallow waters of a popular fishing access site. She had been raped and suffocated.

DNA samples were taken at the scene and interviews were conducted, but no arrests were made and the case remained dormant. Until 2021, when it was revived by a new sheriff, Dan Springer.

Last month, in a significant breakthrough, after creating a DNA profile with four hairs taken from Houchins’ body at the crime scene, genealogists were able to identify Paul Hutchinson, 55, of Dillon, Mont., as a potential suspect, according to a news release from the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.

The father of two, who at the time of the murder was a student at Montana State University where he earned a degree in fisheries biology and later worked for the Montana Bureau of Land Management for 22 years, was interviewed by investigators on July 23, 2024.

“During the nearly two-hour interview, Hutchinson, who lived in Bozeman at the time of Houchins’ death, displayed extreme nervousness,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Investigators noticed he was sweating profusely, scratching his face and biting his hand. When shown a photo of Houchinson, Hutchinson slumped in his chair and showed signs of discomfort. Upon his release, his behavior was noted to be erratic.”

Early the next morning, Hutchinson was found dead on the side of the road, according to the sheriff’s office, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had no criminal history and was married with two adult children.

“Even though this man will not face a jury of his peers, I have no doubt that he is the one who sexually assaulted my sister with force and violence, then held her head in a swamp until she suffocated to death in the mud,” Houchins’ sister, Stephanie Mollet, said at a news conference Thursday.

“When the time came to face his violence, he chose to end his life. He knew he was guilty and he couldn’t face my family or his family and the pain he had caused.”

Investigators described the murder as an opportunistic crime and believe Houchins and Hutchinson met by chance at the river, where Hutchinson raped and then suffocated her in shallow water. It was determined they had no prior relationship.

“This case exemplifies our relentless pursuit of justice. We have never given up on finding the truth for Danni and her family, exhausting every avenue necessary to close this heartbreaking chapter,” Sheriff Dan Springer said at Thursday’s news conference.

“The investigation remained open because we knew Danni had been murdered and that one day we would have the tools to solve this case.”