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After a fun night out with her husband in February 1987, 30-year-old Roxanne Wood returned to her Southwest Michigan home, where she was beaten to death by an intruder. A while later, her husband Terry found the crime scene. She was hit in the head with a frying fan, her throat was slit open, and she had also been s*xually assaulted.
With little evidence to go with and a scarce amount of DNA, Roxanne's murder remained unsolved for decades until an expert genealogist generated the killer's DNA profile in early 2021, narrowing the suspects down to Patrick Gilham. Detectives linked him to the killing using DNA from a discarded cigarette butt. Gilham pleaded no contest and was given 23 years in prison in April 2022.
An upcoming episode of 48 Hours on ID is slated to revisit Roxanne Wood's decades-old murder and also address the recent advances in the case. The episode, titled The Unsolvable Murder of Roxanne Wood, airs on the channel this Monday, May 15, at 8 pm ET.
The official synopsis of the episode reads:
"In 1987, Terry Wood comes home to find his wife, Roxanne Wood, dead; investigators preserve DNA, but technological limitations of the time turn the case cold, until now."
Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of r*pe, violence, and murder. Reader's discretion is advised.
Roxanne Wood was assaulted and then killed before her husband arrived home after their nightout
On February 19, 1987, Roxanne Wood and her husband Terry met for dinner at a restaurant in downtown Niles, Michigan, after work and then went to a local bowling alley. The two had married in 1982 after graduating from high school. Roxanne was 30 years old at the time and worked in customer service for Automated Molded Plastics Co. in nearby South Bend, Indiana.
That night, the couple had arrived in separate cars and allegedly said goodnight to each other, hugged, and kissed before Roxanne headed home. Witnesses reported that Terry stayed behind and bowled another game before returning about 45 minutes after his wife.
At their house, Terry found a bloody crime scene with Roxanne lying on the kitchen floor in her nightgown, which was pulled up, and her underwear was around her knee/ankle area. After Terry called 911, Michigan State Police investigators arrived at the house and took photos of the scene, questioned the husband, and examined the victim's body for evidence.
According to a West Michigan University report, Roxanne was assaulted and rap*d before her throat was slit, leading to her eventual death. At that point, there were no leads, with the only evidence found at the crime scene being a broken frying pan, a knife found in the freezer, semen, and a blood stain on the outside of their backdoor.
Roxanne Wood's killer was brought to justice 35 years later using DNA found at the crime scene
Investigators initially suspected Roxanne Wood's husband, Terry, because he was the last person to have spoken to her and reportedly remained the primary suspect for decades because of the suspicious circumstances. In addition, he was reported to have been present at their house not long after the murder had taken place. Although the case went cold and was once reopened over a decade later, it failed to produce any leads.
Decades later, in 2020, cold case detectives reached out to Identifinders International, a company that helps in catching unidentified remains and individuals involved in violent crimes using their DNA. After a few months, Gabriella Vargas, an expert geneaologist, generated a DNA profile of the killer before entering the details to an online database, linking it to Patrick Gilham of South Bend, Indiana.
The following July, detectives tried to interview Gilham, who immediately lawyered up and refused to talk. They then discretely collected his DNA from a discarded cigarette butt, which matched. Detectives also learned that at the time of the murder, the suspect was released on parole about six months before the incident and resided closeby to her place.
According o CBS, Patrick Gilham was arrested in February 2022. In April of the same year, he pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in Roxanne Wood's cold case. He was handed a minimum of 23 years in prison.
48 Hours on ID will further delve into Roxanne Wood's decades-old case this Monday.
