Police Department

SPD Cold Case on National TV Program

Julie Humphreys, 509.625.5868

Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 5:04 p.m.

SPD cold case to be highlighted on national program this weekend

In 1985 a young girl was murdered, her body left in a junkyard in East Central Spokane. She had been raped and stabbed 31 times and her throat was cut. Despite an exhaustive search by Spokane police, who contacted and interviewed 257 people and identified 87 possible suspects, her killer was never found. Until last year.

SPD solved the murder of then 12-year old Marsi Belecz with the help of a newer application for DNA matching - genetic genealogy.

How the case was solved and who killed Marsi is featured in an hour long episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn, a true crime documentary series, which airs this Sunday. Hear from the original detectives on the case and learn what SPD did to solve the case and bring closure to Marsi’s family members and the community, 35 years after her death.

  On the Case with Paula Zahn airs on the Investigation Discovery Channel on Sunday January 17, 2012 at 10 PM Eastern Time. Please check TV Guide and your local listings for the channel number. The program is also available to stream on discovery+,.

  See the trailer for the Marsi Belecz cold case:  

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EI2E2NyDhBuul9AOHn_mXlCJBxoGv15e/view?usp=sharing

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