Ada County deputies reopened a 1980 cold-case killing. Here’s what led them to close it
Mary Tracy was last seen on June 24, 1980, in Garden City. Two days later, her body was found along Idaho Highway 55 north of Eagle, with stab wounds to her neck and chest.
For over four decades, her case had been cold, with few answers.
Last August, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office reopened her file, according to a news release sent Friday. Law enforcement organized and examined the case and its evidence, submitted a sexual assault kit with DNA to the Idaho State Police Forensic Lab and did follow-up interviews.
“After investigating several leads from the initial investigation, our cold case investigator identified a possible suspect — Charles Nicholas Strain,” according to the release.
In June 2024, the state’s lab reported that Strain was a “probable contributor” to the male DNA found with Tracy’s body. One DNA sample had a likelihood ratio for Strain of one in 522 octillion and the other had a likelihood ratio of one in 1.37 quadrillion, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lauren Montague told the Idaho Statesman.
Strain died in 2007 while serving time in a Utah prison for the 1981 murder of his stepdaughter.
As a result, the Ada County case involving Tracy’s killing is now closed, the release said Friday.
However, authorities still would like to talk to anyone who worked at the former Sunliner Motel on Chinden Boulevard in Garden City in the summer of 1980. Law enforcement are trying to find a friend of Tracy’s known only by her first name, Lisa.
Anyone with information can call 208-577-3102 or email Deputy Montague at lmontague@adacounty.id.gov.
