48 Hours special on Starkville Labor Day murders airs Saturday

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – New DNA technology was at the center of the latest efforts to solve the mystery behind the 1990 murder of Betty Jones and assault of her friend Kathryn Crigler.

The women were attacked at Crigler’s home on old Highway 82 in Starkville.

The case went unsolved for nearly three decades.

With the help of the cutting-edge technology, police were unable to uncover new information.

The CBS investigative program – 48 Hours has been following the story.

Betty Jones’ sister, Anne McWhorter, is the relative that 48 Hours talked with during the CBS production.

Anne and her daughter Jennifer have stayed in regular contact with investigators.

And I am always amazed and this case is absolutely no exception, always amazed at the grace and poise that people have in these circumstances, said 48 Hours correspondent Richard Schlesinger. “I just try to leave them, to the extent that we can, leave them with the sense that people care about what they’ve been through, that people want to help and that they’re not alone.

Schlesinger said the Starkville PD was amazing. That it was the old fashioned police work which made it possible for high technology to find the answers.

48 Hours is scheduled for Saturday, January 19 at 9:00 pm.