August 8, 2024, Press Release from the Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost: (HUDSON, Ohio) — In another victory for cross-agency collaboration on Ohio’s cold cases, BCI investigators and forensic scientists have linked the brutal attacks in 1987 of two northeastern Ohio females – one fatal – to the same suspect.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Hudson Police Chief Perry Tabak and Cuyahoga Falls Police Chief Christopher Norfolk today announced that Thomas Collier Jordan, who died in 2009 in Arizona, was responsible for the rape and homicide of a 30-year-old woman in Hudson Township and the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Cuyahoga Falls.
“The need for answers does not dwindle with the passage of time,” Yost said. “This case is yet another example of BCI working alongside local law enforcement to breathe new life into cases that were once considered unsolvable. My hope is that our results provide victims and their loved ones with the closure that they deserve.”
Jordan was identified through extensive detective work and forensic analysis conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Cold Case Unit at the request of the Hudson Police Department.
“I am proud to have collaborated with Attorney General Yost’s Cold Case Unit and various law enforcement agencies, including the dedicated officers who initially worked on these cases,” said Hudson Police Chief Tabak. “Through our teamwork and modern technology, we have resolved these long-standing cases. Most importantly, I hope this brings closure to the victims and their families, helping them heal after years of seeking answers. Our commitment to justice remains strong, and we are grateful to be part of this vital process.”
BCI's collaboration with the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department also proved pivotal to solving the case.
"Through cooperative efforts with the Ohio Attorney General's Office and law enforcement partners, the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department is committed to diligently investigating cold cases, delivering justice, and providing solace to the victims and families impacted by unresolved criminal incidents,” said Cuyahoga Falls Police Chief Chris Norfolk.
Click on the image above to play a video about the case
Hudson Township homicide
On Aug. 10, 1987, Janice Christensen had driven to the Metro Bike Path in Summit County’s Hudson Township to go for a jog. When she didn’t return home, she was reported as missing, eliciting a prompt response from law enforcement.
Police and several family members searched for Christensen. Tragically, her body – partially naked and with five stab wounds – was found the next morning by her husband, Ken.
A pair of shoelaces lying next to Janice Christensen’s body, investigators would later learn, did not belong to her. The victim’s car and car keys were missing. Six days later, the vehicle was found abandoned in Bedford.
Hudson police exhausted their resources in trying to identify a suspect but came up empty. With DNA technology less advanced 37 years ago, a complete DNA profile of the offender could not be developed from the evidence.
The case eventually turned cold.
Cuyahoga Falls sexual assault
In working to solve the Christensen case, BCI agents and Hudson detectives reviewed similar sexual assaults and homicides throughout northeastern Ohio. They believed that a second case involving a comparable criminal pattern might suggest a serial offender and help them solve Christensen’s homicide.
Investigators discovered a case with eerily similar circ*mstances and sufficient evidence that allowed them to close both cases.
On June 16, 1987, Michelle Puett-Howard had been sexually assaulted at Top of the World Park in Cuyahoga Falls. The teenager was walking alone on a trail when a man grabbed her, held a knife to her throat, took her to a secluded area off the trail and sexually assaulted her, binding her hands and ankles with a pair of shoelaces and taking her underwear. The suspect also took the victim’s car keys, telling her that he was taking the vehicle.
Puett-Howard, who now lives outside Ohio, immediately reported the rape to police.
DNA evidence was obtained, but again – given the status of DNA testing at the time and the lack of DNA databases – the case grew cold.
Identifying the suspect
Investigators were struck by the case similarities: Both victims were female, attacked on a walking trail, bound by shoelaces and sexually assaulted. And in both cases, the offender used a knife and stole the victim’s car.
In 2022, the evidence from the Cuyahoga Falls attack was resubmitted to BCI’s laboratory and retested using advanced DNA technology, with the results entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System database, more commonly known as CODIS. Although the statute of limitations for prosecution had passed, investigators felt that the testing could lead to a serial offender.
Which is precisely what happened.
The DNA matched the offender profile of Jordan, who was born in Cleveland in 1926 and died in 2009 in Yuma, Arizona, at the age of 83. Investigators searched for living family members to confirm the DNA match without avail.
Ultimately, BCI agents traveled to Yuma in April 2024 to exhume Jordan’s body and obtain his DNA. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed the link between Jordan and the crimes against Christensen and Puett-Howard.
In reviewing Jordan’s criminal history in Ohio, BCI agents found an extensive record. He was sentenced to prison in 1959 in Trumbull County for grand larceny; sentenced in 1961 in Cuyahoga County for burglary; sentenced in 1972 in Geauga County for malicious entry; and sentenced in 1976 in Geauga County for rape, stabbing and burglary – a conviction for which he remained in prison until 1985.
Based on the DNA evidence and the similarities between the Hudson Township and Cuyahoga Falls cases, law enforcement is confident that Jordan was responsible for both crimes. And given his extensive criminal history in Ohio, he is thought to have committed additional sexual assaults during his life.
Jordan is known to have had ties to Ohio, Arizona, Nevada, California, Louisiana and Michigan. BCI is sharing information about the case to law enforcement nationwide, in hopes that additional cases might be solved.
BCI’s Cold Case Unit
Created by Attorney General Yost in 2020,BCI’s Cold Case Unitprovides resources and investigation assistance to local law enforcement to advance unsolved homicides and sexual assaults. The unit’s multidisciplinary team – consisting of special investigators, criminal intelligence analysts and experts from the bureau’s DNA laboratory – work collaboratively to review unsolved cases and, in many cases, apply the latest forensic techniques in hopes of answering decades-old questions.
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