ON “48 HOURS”: A DNA “DETECTIVE,” AN UNDERCOVER COP AND A CIGARETTE BUTT HELPED CATCH THE KILLER IN A 34-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE

“48 Hours” Investigates in “The ‘Unsolvable’ Murder of Roxanne Wood”

In February 1987, Terry Wood came home from a night of bowling to discover his wife, Roxanne, dead on the kitchen floor in their home in Niles, Mich. Detectives say Roxanne Wood had been sexually assaulted and her throat slashed. DNA was preserved from the crime scene, but given technological limitations of the time, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge any suspects. The case went cold. Then, 34 years later, investigative genetic genealogist Gabriella Vargas got to work on what had been deemed unsolvable by many because of the scant amount of DNA that was left. 48 HOURS correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on how the incredible work of Vargas, an undercover cop, and a cigarette butt led investigators to their killer in “The ‘Unsolvable’ Murder of Roxanne Wood,” to be broadcast Saturday, Nov. 12 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+. 

“I believed that this case was extremely solvable,” Vargas told 48 HOURS. “And I believed that I could solve it.”

48 HOURS: “The ‘Unsolvable’ Murder of Roxanne Wood” is produced by Susan Mallie and Jennifer Terker. Stephen McCain is the development producer. Lauren Turner Dunn and Emily Wichick are the field producers. Ken Blum and Mike Baluzy are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.