CeCe Moore solves unsolved murder case of girl from Belgrade

MISSOULA, Mont. — Earlier this month, an unsolved Gallatin County case was solved 28 years later.

NBC Montana spoke exclusively with genetic genealogist CeCe Moore.

Over the course of her career, Moore has helped solve over 300 unsolved murder cases through investigative genetic genealogy.

Most recently, Moore helped solve the murder of 15-year-old Danielle Houchins from Belgrade.

You may know Moore from the hit television series “The Genetic Detective” as well as crime series such as “48 Hours”.

Moore's hobby, genealogy, became a career, and for the past six years she has solved an unsolved case once a week.

In early August, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer held a press conference to announce that Paul Hutchinson of Dillon had been identified as a suspect in the murder of Danielle Houchins.

But just ten hours after Hutchinson was first questioned by detectives, he committed suicide.

Moore told NBC Montana how they identified Hutchinson after nearly three decades.

“As it turns out, Paul Hutchinson left his hair on Dani's body, and that allowed us to identify him. There was more than just that rootless hair, but that ultimately gave us the DNA we needed to identify Paul Hutchinson. When we use genetic genealogy to identify a violent criminal, we almost always work with very distant relatives, and it's almost never just one match that leads us to him. In this case, I was able to make contact with all four of Paul Hutchinson's grandparents,” Moore said.

Here is a link to Moore's website, which lists some cases she has helped solve over the years.