59-year-old Logan cold case solved
Jun 26, 2024, 12:00 PM | Updated: 12:48 pm
According to Logan Police Department, the cold case murder of Tanya Weber has been solved. (Logan City Police Department)
(Logan City Police Department)
LOGAN, Utah – Logan City Police Department said that the 59-year-old cold case of the homicide of Tanya Weber has been solved.
According to a press release, Tanya Weber was found dead on Logan’s West Center Street on June 26, 1965. She was 17.
According to the Bureau of Criminal Identification’s website, Weber had been strangled. She was found partially naked. Her body had been hidden in the bushes of a home less than two blocks from where she lived.
Following the discovery, police interviewed about 1,000 people. They collected statements from 150 of the interviewees.
Evidence collected from the crime scene included Tanya’s clothes. The press release did not mention additional pieces of evidence.
Several days later, Logan police identified a suspect as 26-year-old Owen Hodges Kimball. The press release said that Kimball was living near Weber and knew her.
The statements police collected suggested that Kimball had been at the scene around the time of Weber’s death.
However, Kimball was found dead in Logan Canyon, per the BCI.
The Logan PD press release said he had been reported missing by his family on June 30, 1965. Later, police found his body in his car.
Kimball’s death was ruled a suicide. B. H. Harris, the Cache County attorney at the time, said there was no evidence to suggest additional suspects.
Tanya Weber’s case reopened
The case remained unsolved. In 2022, it was reopened.
Assisted by the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Grant, Logan police sent Weber’s clothing to the Utah State Crime Lab for DNA analysis.
The examination revealed the DNA of several men on her clothing. Then, investigators decided to pursue a DNA sample from Kimball’s remains.
According to the press release, investigators filed an ex parte order. Per Cornell Law School, an ex parte order asks for the court to grant a request with only one side’s approval.
The order was approved.
Kimball’s body was exhumed on November 2, 2023. His remains were sent to the Utah Medical Examiner’s office for DNA collection, according to the press release.
The Utah State Crime Lab and the Bode Technology Group, a Virginia-based DNA collection company, processed the samples.
Kimball’s DNA was found to match the DNA found on Weber’s clothing.
“Upon review of the numerous statements and evidence collected from the 1965 investigation, as well as the recently obtained DNA evidence, [it] showed Mr. Kimball did in fact kill Ms. Tanya Weber,” read the press release. “This evidence would be sufficient to obtain a verdict beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The press release went on to note that today is the 59th anniversary of Weber’s death. Police have contacted her family throughout the process.
Related: Charges filed in 1996 cold case homicide of West Valley City pizza delivery woman
