Loyola University forensic science students help identify victim in cold case

Loyola University Maryland forensic science students recently played a pivotal role in helping identify a woman who died in 1971, bringing a family some closure in one of Howard County’s oldest homicide cold cases. 

As interns for the Howard County Police Department, several Loyola students documented and digitized evidence, reevaluated fingerprints from more than 50 years ago, and leveraged genealogy and AI technology. As a result, police were able to identify the woman as Sadie Belle Murray, born Sept. 7, 1924, in Pennsylvania, who at the time of her death in 1971 went by Sarah Belle Sharkey.

Howard County Police announced the identification in September 2025, which not only solved the 54-year-old mystery of Sharkey’s identity, but also reunited two of her surviving adult children, who had been unaware of what had happened to their mother.

While Sharkey has been identified, the homicide case remains open, and the Howard County cold case unit is investigating several other unsolved cases, according to a Loyola media release.

Bethany Bessling, a 2025 Loyola graduate, worked on the case as an intern with Howard County Police in fall 2024. A psychology and forensic science double major, she is currently enrolled in Loyola’s Master of Science in Forensic Pattern Analysis program and aspires to work in a crime lab for a government agency. The opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills she had learned in the classroom to make a positive impact was a deeply meaningful experience.

“I wish I could put into words how it feels. It’s surreal,” Bessling said in the media release. “Something really unfortunate and sad happened to this family. It was truly rewarding to be able to give them some type of information and closure.”

During her internship, Bessling reported to cold case detective Cpl. Wade Zufall, who oversees the program. Zufall, a 24-year veteran of law enforcement, first connected with Loyola’s forensic science department after a colleague introduced him to Dr. David Rivers, chairman and professor of forensic science.

“It’s really blossomed into a great partnership between our department and Loyola,” Zufall said in the release. “It evolved from me helping a student with a project, to guest speaking for professors in forensic science, to creating this internship where now, Loyola student interns are helping on some of these cold cases.”

Bessling’s work included sending fingerprints to every state police department in the country to see if a connection was missed over the decades.

According to the release, she also used Photoshop to generate an AI rendering of Sharkey, hoping someone might recognize her, and helped organize and digitize old case files. Bessling contacted NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, to collect artist renderings that could enhance the Photoshop rendering.

Using modern technology to look at an old case, collaborating with other police departments and documenting evidence is the type of real-world experience Zufall wants interns to gain during their time with Howard County Police.

“It’s something that’s unmatched. It’s not something that I know about going on at any other department in our area,” he said. “Sometimes interns are just doing clerical work. We actually put our interns in a leadership position, actively working on aspects of the case.”

According to the release, several Loyola students assisted with the case, including Julia Viveiros, ’24, who was the first to participate in the internship. After graduating, she returned to Howard County Police as a non-sworn contingent worker assisting with cold cases.

Gabriel Flores, ’25, worked on the case at the same time as Bessling. One morning, Zufall mentioned to Flores that solving the case would require testing old histology slides for DNA and using forensic genealogy – an expensive process. The unit captain overheard and escalated the idea to Chief of Police Gregory Der, who approved the resources.

“That whole process of doing the DNA profile and forensic genealogy happened just because Gabe and I were having a discussion one morning,” Zufall said. “I think that’s pretty amazing.”

Identifying the victim in this case was only possible because the police still had DNA samples from when Sharkey was first found.

“Wade had used genealogy before, so he knew that providing a private company with DNA could yield results,” Bessling said. “One day he read about a company called Othram, known for building genealogy trees, and saw they had success with similar DNA. He took a chance, and the department approved sending the sample, which eventually led to identifying Sharkey.”

Bessling, Flores and Zufall presented their work on the case at a conference hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Division of the International Association for Identification in June. Flores spoke about the preliminary work to begin the case, such as running fingerprints through each state’s system, while Bessling spoke about the AI process and the programs they used to create the image of Sharkey. Zufall presented on the investigation as a whole and how all their efforts – plus the use of genealogy – helped advance the case.

Zufall, who will teach a forensic science class at Loyola in the spring, hopes the internship program continues to grow and recruit Loyola forensic science students to work on these types of cases.

For Bessling, the opportunity to intern with the Howard County cold case unit was a chance for her to gain valuable experience in the field, connect with other students and professionals and make a difference.

“The relationships you can build with people, especially when dealing with traumatic things – it’s really nice to have that support system,” Bessling said in the release. “I think Loyola and the professors provide that space for students who are going into internships, working on real cases and working on things that impact real people.”

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