PORT SHELDON TWP., MI (WHTC) – Nearly 40 years after her death, cold case investigators may be getting closer to solving the murder of Deborah Lynn Polinsky.
The body of the 20-year-old chemical company worker was found on Holland’s North Side, in a two-story rented farmhouse off of New Holland Street near 152nd Avenue, on July 26th, 1977, three days after she was last seen alive. Polinsky had been stabbed to death and authorities at the time couldn’t come up with a motive for the crime.
According to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Detective Captain Mark Bennett, work by his department’s Cold Case team over the past 18 months, with more than 180 persons interviewed, 40 DNA samples sent to the state police lab for comparison, and over 600 latent fingerprints analyzed, may begin to bear fruit. “Advances in technology have allowed investigators to gain valuable insight into this crime,” Bennett said. “As as result of those advances, the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying a female that they believe was at the scene at the time of the incident.”
Tips to the Sheriff’s Department or Silent Observer are welcome.