Elizabethtown College student Eric Schubert has recently solved a nearly 60-year-old cold case. Schubert had used his knowledge and passion for genealogy to discover the killer of nine-year-old Marise Ann Chiverella.

On March 18, 1964, Chiverella was on her way to school in Hazleton, Pa. when she was abducted. Later that day, her body was found with evidence of sexual assault and the police had been unable to solve the case for almost 60 years. That was until Schubert reached out with the belief that he could help advance the case.

Schubert is a third-year history major at the College who had a 10 year long passion for genealogy that led him to start a business. His business would have him piece together someone’s family tree to find information that someone might not have known. He has been running this business from his dorm room to help clients discover their past.

Schubert had gotten into creating these family trees when he was only in middle school. One day, he had stayed home sick from school and made his family tree. There he discovered a passion that would spire into a business that he would eventually use to help solve a cold case.

Two years ago, Schubert heard about the cold case. Believing he could make more progress he emailed the police unsure if they would take him seriously. To his surprise they replied and talked with him about working on the case. He said that when the police spoke to him about getting involved, they seemed very skeptical. However, Schubert was determined and managed to convince the police to allow him to work on the case.

Schubert had used DNA technology to find that the sample on her jacket belonged to a very distant relative. This allowed him to build a family tree to help police compile a suspect list. He stated that his methods involved him working backwards to find suspects and create the possible list.

“It was a lot of process of elimination,” Schubert said. He explained that while the killer was on a list of 20 suspects, the killer wasn’t entirely considered at first.

Only a year into trying to solve the case, a new DNA sample had arisen which wasn’t very close or distant to the victim. This sample had been a major breakthrough towards solving the case.

“At that moment I said ‘I’m gonna get him’ and I did,” Schubert said, upon hearing the news about the breakthrough.

The DNA sample had been found on Chiverella’s clothing which led Schubert and the police to the suspect. Schubert claims that the chance of someone else having the same DNA to the sample they had found was a 1 in 300 septillion chance.

The killer was identified as James Paul Forte, a bartender with a record of violent sexual assault. Forte had died in 1980 at the age of 38 due to natural causes. At the time of the murder, Forte had no known connection to the family.

“It was great to finally tell [the] family we got him,” Schubert said.

On Feb. 10, Pennsylvania State Police announced Chiverella’s killer during a press conference. Schubert and the police had been accompanied by the girl’s four living siblings as well as extended family. The official confirmation of the DNA sample had only come in a week before the conference.

“[I] took a deep breath, [and] felt a weight off my shoulders after two years,” Schubert said. “Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done but worth it.”

The family had never wanted to seek revenge for the crime, but instead wanted to see justice.