BOISE, Idaho — This story originally appear in the Idaho Press.
A 44-year-old cold case has officially been closed, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
DNA found on the body of Mary Tracy, a 24-year-old mother from Boise who was killed in 1980, was matched to that of a convicted murderer who died in 2007.
Tracy, who had two daughters, lived in the Chinden Boulevard area and was last seen on June 24, 1980. Her body was found two days later along Highway 55, near where Shadow Valley Golf Course is today. She had been stabbed to death, and a clip from a 1967 Seattle newspaper was found with her body.
“Mary’s case went cold for decades, until a reopened investigation and recent breakthroughs brought new light to the case,” Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said in a YouTube video posted to the sheriff’s office’s account on Friday.
According to the video, one of Tracy’s daughters was behind the push to reopen the case in August of 2023. A sexual assault kit was sent to the Idaho State Police Forensic Lab, and a fresh look at the case file brought new interest to an individual named Charles Strain.
Strain, who grew up in Seattle and had a lengthy criminal history across the Pacific Northwest, allegedly told an acquaintance in a nightclub that he had killed a woman around the time Tracy’s body was found. He lived in Garden City at the time.
Later that decade, Strain kidnapped his non-custodial daughter and killed his stepdaughter, Deanna Dean, in separate incidents. He was incarcerated in a Utah prison for Dean’s murder when he died in 2007.
In June 2024, lab results showed that DNA from Tracy’s sexual assault kit proved a strong match to that on file for Strain. As Strain is deceased, the case is officially resolved, but the Ada County Sheriff’s Office is still looking for information that could reveal more about Tracy’s murder and final days.
They would like to speak to anyone who was employed at Sunliner Motel, where Tracy was possibly killed, in the summer of 1980, and would also like to find a woman known only as “Lisa,” who was Tracy’s friend and possibly one of the last to see her alive.
Anyone with information about the case should call 208-577-3102 or email Deputy Lauren Montague at lmontague@adacounty.id.gov.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.