Caleb Hutton/Everett Herald

For three decades, the families of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg had been left with only questions and fleeting memories.

On Friday morning, one long-awaited answer arrived.

A jury found William Talbott II guilty of two counts of aggravated murder in a trial that was the first of its kind.

The truck driver, 56, of SeaTac, had been identified in a pioneering investigation led by the Snohomish County SheriffB次元官网网址檚 Office.

A genealogist used a public DNA site, GEDMatch, to help build a family tree for the suspect based on DNA from a crime scene. Her research pointed to Talbott.

Since then, dozens of arrests have been made in cold case crimes nationwide because of the forensic tool known as genetic genealogy, stirring a heated debate over police use of genetic databases.

Many suspects, including the former cop arrested in the Golden State Killer case, await a trial. This was the first case using the technique to go before a jury.

Other than semen at two crime scenes, little else tied the defendant to the killings. His defense argued the semen came from a consensual act.

Talbott did not testify.

He grew up seven miles from a third crime scene south of Monroe, where Jay Cook had been bludgeoned with rocks, strangled with twine and left dead under a bridge.

Standing room only.

B次元官网网址� Caleb Hutton (@snocaleb)

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Jay & Tanya

Cook stood a stalky 6-foot-4.

At age 20, he hadnB次元官网网址檛 beefed out.

HeB次元官网网址檇 learned to play rock B次元官网网址檔 roll bass guitar, with friends in his hometown on Vancouver Island.

He worked at a pizza parlor for a while. One night after a shift, he rode his bike three hours through rain and darkness to a cabin where friends were staying for a weekend, balancing a pizza the whole way to bring them food, his sister Laura Baanstra said.

He had a bizarre habit of losing his clothes, his sister said. Sometimes after school heB次元官网网址檇 come home without his jacket, and no idea where it ended up. One day the family packed for a ski trip, about a four-hour drive.

B次元官网网址淲e get there B次元官网网址� snow on the ground, right? B次元官网网址� and Jay only had one shoe,B次元官网网址� Baanstra said.

He had a sweetness about him, taking his younger sister out for dinner and, once, for high tea, with the good money heB次元官网网址檇 earned on a fishing boat.

One uncle had coined a phrase about his nephew: B次元官网网址淛ay had no rough edges.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really no wonder that Jay ended up with someone like Tanya,B次元官网网址� Baanstra said. B次元官网网址淭anya was very sweet and caring, and they looked up to each other.B次元官网网址�

She was 18.

Much like the Cooks, her family loved long boating trips around the Salish Sea. Van Cuylenborg played tennis at her familyB次元官网网址檚 home on an acre, and led a student push for a girlB次元官网网址檚 basketball team at her high school, her brother said.

For years she lobbied her parents, too, to get a dog. Her mother gave in around 1982. The Golden Retriever, Tessa, became first and foremost TanyaB次元官网网址檚 pet.

She hoped to work with animals one day, maybe as a veterinarian. CookB次元官网网址檚 dream was to be a marine biologist. Neither had made concrete plans. They were young. The two started dating in the summer of 1987.

CookB次元官网网址檚 father ran a furnace business with a man named Spud, whose last name, Talbot, ended in one T. Jay Cook didnB次元官网网址檛 have a job at the time. So his father asked him to run an overnight errand to pick up about $750 in parts from Gensco, in south Seattle. He had cash for a hotel, but planned to sleep in the van outside the business.

His girlfriend was invited to come along. They set out on Nov. 18, 1987, in a bronze Ford Club Wagon van. Their ferry docked in Port Angeles around 4 p.m., a half-hour before sunset. Perhaps an hour later on Highway 101, they missed the exit to the Hood Canal Bridge. They stopped in Hoodsport for snacks.

Store clerk Judith Stone testified that they wanted to know how close they were to the bridge.

B次元官网网址淥h, youB次元官网网址檙e a little past that,B次元官网网址� Stone recalled saying. B次元官网网址淎 long way past that.B次元官网网址�

She told them how to reroute to Seattle.

A deli clerk spoke with them in Allyn. They did not seem distressed, and it didnB次元官网网址檛 seem like anyone else was traveling with them.

Exactly how they encountered a killer remained a mystery, even through the trial.

Prosecutors suggested they may have pulled over for directions again.

Days later police found a ticket for the Bremerton-Seattle ferry, inside the abandoned Ford van. The ferry had docked in Seattle around 11:35 p.m.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 where the coupleB次元官网网址檚 path went cold.

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The case

Almost a week later, a passerby collecting cans found Van Cuylenborg dead against a rusty culvert Nov. 24, 1987, off Parson Creek Road in Skagit County.

She was nude from the waist down. SheB次元官网网址檇 been shot in the back of the head with a .380-caliber bullet.

The next day, police learned her wallet, ID, a box of .380-caliber ammo and surgical gloves had been picked up 20 miles north in downtown Bellingham, beneath a tavernB次元官网网址檚 back porch. The bronze van sat parked around the corner, next to a Greyhound station.

The money order was still inside, unused. There was blood on a comforter, a used tampon on the floor and orange Camel cigarette butts in an ash tray.

Pheasant hunters stumbled upon CookB次元官网网址檚 body on Thanksgiving Day under the High Bridge over the Snoqualmie River, south of Monroe.

A blue blanket covered his upper body. Investigators peeled it back to find heB次元官网网址檇 had been beaten around the head and strangled with twine tied onto two dog collars. Tissues and a pack of Camel Lights had been shoved down his throat. Days later police seized bloody rocks from the grass nearby.

The crime scenes were scattered over three counties. At each site, police found interlocked zip ties. Neither of the victims had obvious marks on their wrists or ankles.

A generation passed.

For CookB次元官网网址檚 parents and sisters, the gaping wound began to heal. They talked often about Jay, but in happy, friendly, joking terms.

B次元官网网址淔or us, I think we put JayB次元官网网址檚 tragic death behind us a long time ago,B次元官网网址� Laura Baanstra said in an interview. B次元官网网址淲e all assumed that whoever did it was either dead or in jail. I donB次元官网网址檛 think I ever thought the guy had gotten away with it, because I just assumed he wouldB次元官网网址檝e done something else.B次元官网网址�

John Van Cuylenborg said his parents were never the same after his sisterB次元官网网址檚 death. When his father died in the 1990s, John became the one who kept in touch with the sheriffB次元官网网址檚 office in Snohomish County.

B次元官网网址淲hat IB次元官网网址檝e had to live with for 31 years was just no answers to anything, in this case, other than you had a couple of dead bodies,B次元官网网址� he said.

John, his sisterB次元官网网址檚 only sibling, is now a civil attorney in Victoria. He was forced to accept that there was a good chance that the murders would never be solved.

B次元官网网址淵ou kind of had to,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淵ou needed to have some perspective on it, and be able to focus on other things in life, rather than continuing to wait day after day, week after week, for a resolution.B次元官网网址�

He never gave up hope, though. He knew there was evidence that could, someday, implicate somebody. His sisterB次元官网网址檚 Minolta camera body had gone missing from the van, and detectives had the serial number.

A jacket and a backpack had gone missing, too.

He knew the sheriffB次元官网网址檚 office had a suspectB次元官网网址檚 DNA.

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He couldnB次元官网网址檛 have predicted how police ended up using it.

Detectives had built a list of hundreds of potential suspects. Many were ruled out through DNA tests.

Semen had been found both on Van CuylenborgB次元官网网址檚 body and in the van, on the hem of her pants. The sample was sent to Parabon NanoLabs, a private lab offering a new service to help police to build a rough digital sketch of a suspectB次元官网网址檚 face, through DNA.

Behind the scenes Parabon was working on another project, using public genealogy databases to identify suspects through their family ties. Quietly, the lab uploaded the genetic profile to GEDMatch.

By chance, second-cousins on both sides of TalbottB次元官网网址檚 family had uploaded genetic profiles to the database.

A genealogist, CeCe Moore, traced the family lines to TalbottB次元官网网址檚 mother and father. He had sisters. But he was the only son. The data report returned to the lab on a Friday in late April 2018. By that Monday, the genealogist had identified who it belonged to.

Until then, police had no reason to suspect Talbott.

He was a short-haul trucker with no felony record. In his spare time, he rode motorcycles, and he was well liked in his circle of friends.

Plainclothes officers put Talbott under surveillance on his driving routes for days. A paper cup fell from his work truck on May 8, in south Seattle. It was tested by a state crime lab. His DNA matched the semen. Talbott was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

John Van Cuylenborg had been in touch with Snohomish County cold case detective Jim Scharf over the preceding months, about the work Parabon was doing. Scharf called him in May 2018, with news of the arrest. Van Cuylenborg had many questions.

B次元官网网址淎nd I said, B次元官网网址榃ell, where is he?B次元官网网址� And he said, B次元官网网址業n the back seat.B次元官网网址� A shiver went down my spine, thinking JimB次元官网网址檚 riding in the same vehicle as this guy, after 31 years, you know?B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just phenomenal.B次元官网网址�

Later, detectives took a swab from TalbottB次元官网网址檚 cheek.

Again, the DNA matched.

The trial

Defense attorneys did not challenge the legality of police using genetic databases to identify a suspect.

Instead, at least in this trial, the genealogy work was treated like any tip that police might follow up on.

Jurors listened to 1陆 weeks of witness testimony: retired police officers who uncovered evidence in 1987; the bird hunter who found CookB次元官网网址檚 body; the Bellingham bartender who gave Van CuylenborgB次元官网网址檚 ID to the cops; the store clerks, the last people known to have seen the couple alive; and detective Scharf, who fought tears on the witness stand as he recalled receiving word of a DNA match.

According to TalbottB次元官网网址檚 defense, the detectives had tunnel vision.

B次元官网网址淭hey never stopped to consider that perhaps the person who left the DNA was not the murderer,B次元官网网址� defense attorney Rachel Forde said in the trial.

In her closing argument, Forde said semen couldB次元官网网址檝e been the result of a consensual act. It only showed, she said, that Talbott had sexual contact with her. It doesnB次元官网网址檛 prove Talbott is guilty of murder, Forde said.

The deputy prosecutor, Matt Baldock, fired back in his rebuttal.

He asked the jury if it was plausible that a teen girl would have sex with a stranger B次元官网网址� on an overnight trip with her boyfriend? In the midst of the AIDS crisis? When she was on her period?

Attorneys clashed over the credibility of a witness who found further evidence that seemed to link Talbott to the van: a palm print, on a back door.

At first, a Washington State Patrol crime lab investigator had ruled out Talbott as a match.

A colleague told forensic scientist Angela Hilliard to look again. The forensic scientist realized sheB次元官网网址檇 been examining the sample upside down. She changed her conclusion: The print matched Talbott.

The defense pointed out how convenient that seemed for the police, but did not call an expert witness to challenge the final conclusion of the lab, nor did the lawyers dispute it was TalbottB次元官网网址檚 semen in the van.

Defense witness testimony lasted about 10 minutes B次元官网网址� a brief discussion of an address on TalbottB次元官网网址檚 driverB次元官网网址檚 license in Okanogan County, where he owned land.

Talbott grew up near Woodinville, in a house thatB次元官网网址檚 no longer there. At the time of his arrest, he lived in SeaTac.

None of his relatives recalled ever seeing him with a blue blanket, a Minolta camera, dog collars or guns.

The jury began deliberating around 4 p.m. Tuesday.

As they waited for a verdict, CookB次元官网网址檚 family spoke with The Daily Herald.

B次元官网网址淩egardless of how this case comes out, I know theyB次元官网网址檒l survive,B次元官网网址� said CookB次元官网网址檚 brother-in-law, Gary Baanstra. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e seen them do it. Their closure is just going back to that place where they can say, B次元官网网址楯ay,B次元官网网址� and thereB次元官网网址檚 just no baggage against it anymore.B次元官网网址�

To CookB次元官网网址檚 sister, it has seemed mind-boggling that a killer could do this once. Never before. Never again.

TanyaB次元官网网址檚 brother has thought about that, too.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e trying to logically understand an illogical act,B次元官网网址� John Van Cuylenborg said. B次元官网网址淥r acts, in this case. YouB次元官网网址檙e starting off to do the impossible.B次元官网网址�

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