The cold case murder of Janice Christensen in Hudson Township has finally been solved after puzzling investigators for nearly 40 years.
According to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, authorities identified the suspect as Thomas Collier Jordan, a Cleveland man who died in Arizona in 2009, by linking his DNA to Christensen's murder. He's also been linked to the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in Cuyahoga Falls that happened that same year.
Christensen was stabbed to death on Aug. 10, 1987. Authorities say she left her home that morning and drove to the Metro Bike Path in Hudson Township but never returned home. Her body was found the next morning— she was partially naked and had been stabbed five times. Her killer took her car keys and vehicle, which was found almost a week later, having been abandoned in Bedford. A pair of shoelaces, which did not belong to her, was found near her body.
It would be 37 years before her case was closed. Investigators working on her case looked for "comparable criminal patterns" and found a similar case involving the Cuyahoga Falls teen, who had been sexually assaulted on June 16, 1987, at the Top of the World Park in Cuyahoga Falls. Authorities say the teen was walking on a trail when she was grabbed by an unknown man who held a knife to her throat, pulled her off the trail and into the woods and assaulted her after tying her up with a pair of shoelaces. Her attacker took her underwear, car keys and vehicle. The teen reported the rape and a DNA swab was taken, but at that time, there wasn't a DNA database to compare the results to.
It wouldn't be until 2022 when DNA evidence from the teen's attack was resubmitted to BCI's laboratory and the FBI's CODIS database. The results led back to Jordan, a Cleveland man born in 1926. Authorities said they tried to find any living relatives of the man, but that search came up short. Unable to test a family member, investigators went to Yuma, Arizona, where he was buried and had his body exhumed. Results confirmed Jordan as the attacker in both cases.
Authorities said Jordan had a laundry list of previous crimes and an "extensive record" of prior rapes, burglaries and stabbings. He spent multiple years in various prisons for different crimes and was released in 1985, two years before the two attacks.
"Based on the DNA evidence and the similarities between the Hudson Township and Cuyahoga Falls cases, law enforcement is confident that Jordan was responsible for both crimes. And given his extensive criminal history in Ohio, he is thought to have committed additional sexual assaults during his life," authorities said.
We spoke to Hudson police back in 2021 when the department teamed up with BCI to take a fresh look at evidence relating to Christensen's murder.
RELATED: Hudson police take fresh look at 1987 murder case of Janice Christensen
