Sheri Jo Elliot went missing on Nov. 16, 1983 after failing to return home from school. Police say they have now identified her killer through DNA evidence.
WASHINGTON — Michigan authorities announced Wednesday that they have solved the 43-year-old murder of a teenager whose body was found four days after she went missing on her way home from school.
In a social media post, Michigan State Police said the case of 16-year-old Sheri Jo Elliot’s kidnapping and murder had been cold for decades.
According to police, Elliot went missing on Nov. 16, 1983, after failing to return home from school in Flint, Michigan. She was last seen waiting for the bus, but an extensive search of the area around the bus stop turned up empty.
Four days later, her body was discovered along a rural road in Blumfield Township, about 35 miles north of the city.
Elliot had been sexually assaulted and shot multiple times, according to investigators.
Evidence was collected from the site where she was found, but police were unable to match any of it to a suspect.
A stalled investigation gets new life 40 years later
Investigators in 1983 ran out of leads, and the case went dormant because forensics at the time were limited. DNA testing for criminal cases would first be used in England three years after Elliot’s murder, but the then-groundbreaking technology didn’t become a commonly-used tool in the U.S. until the early 2000s.
“Despite extensive efforts, the case went cold due to limited forensic technology available at the time,” Michigan State Police investigators said in their Wednesday announcement.
But the case was reopened in 2023, exactly 40 years after Elliot’s murder, with the hope that new technology could find her killer.
State police partnered with Othram Labs, a private DNA sequencing company, to develop a genetic profile of the killer based on DNA left at the scene.
That DNA profile led investigators to 75-year-old Roni Collins of Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Police said investigators had hoped to obtain a voluntary DNA sample from Collins to compare against their profile, but he died by suicide in January 2026 before that could happen.
DNA obtained during his autopsy was found to be a match to the sample from the crime scene, police said, identifying him as the person responsible for Elliot’s 1983 murder.
“Although Collins will not face prosecution, detectives believe the identification provides long-awaited answers to Elliott’s family and the community,” MSP said in a statement.
If you or somebody you know has experienced sexual abuse, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at: 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673).
This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.