The case had disturbed the researchers for almost two decades: Jason Royter, a father of two children, had been found stabbed to death at his home in the Salt Lake City area.
There were no signs of forced entry and no apparent reason. Little for the detectives and relatives of Mr. Royter, including his children now adults, continue in the unsolved homicide.
But a DNA blow finally provided an advance in the cold case, which led to the arrest last week by Mark Muñoz, 53, a homeless man, in the murder of Mr. Royter, the authorities said during a press conference the Friday.
In the informative session held by the Sheriff’s office of Salt Lake County, two of Mr. Royter’s sisters and his son joined the investigators for the announcement that Mr. Muñoz had been accused.
“I know this could have stagnated,” said Niki Price, one of Mr. Royter’s sisters. “They wouldn’t stop until it was done.”
The researchers said the DNA collected from Mr. Royter in Magna, Utah, coincided with a sample that had been collected from Mr. Muñoz, who was included in a national forensic database used by the agencies of application of the application of the application of the application of the Law when arrested in a separate matter in another state.
They refused to say what the state was the other case or what it involved, citing the ongoing investigation into the murder of Mr. Royter.
“These cases cool,” said Rosie Rivera, the Salt Lake County Sheriff at the press conference. “Some of them spend 10 years, 20 years, 50 years.”
It was not clear immediately if Mr. Muñoz, who was arrested on Thursday, had a lawyer. Competition requests were left on Monday with the Legal Defenders Association of Salt Lake and the Salt Lake County District Prosecutor’s Office in search of that information.
Ben Pender, the detective who took over the investigation of the cold case, said Friday that Mr. Muñoz had been difficult to locate due to his transitory background.
“It really doesn’t have a stable residence,” he said.
Sheriff Rivera said researchers had not yet established a reason in the case and that Mr. Muñoz had not been cooperating with the researchers.
“He knows what happened,” he said. “We don’t.”
The Sheriff accredited homicide researchers who initially responded to the crime scene with the preservation of evidence, saying that advances in forensic science over the years had helped solve cases such as the murder of Mr. Royter.
Stephani Perschon, another of Mr. Royter’s sisters, said that Mr. Muñoz’s arrest had helped relieve a heavy burden for his family.
“I just want to say how relief this is,” he said. “20 years have passed.”
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