Summary

In February of 2003, 57-year-old Jeanette Wilton, a resident of Saginaw, Michigan, was brutally murdered. On February 22, Wilton was found dead in the Flint River near her home. An autopsy concluded Wilton died of strangulation and multiple stab wounds to the neck. Wilton also sustained blunt force trauma to the head and face, contusions, and postmortem abrasions.

The Michigan State Police (MSP) Third District Cold Case Team reopened the case in 2021, nearly 20 years after Wilton’s death. MSP investigators worked to submit forensic evidence to Othram in hopes that Wilton’s killer could be identified using identity inference, a process that enables investigators to identify individuals from DNA evidence, even when there is no known reference sample to initially compare against.

In June of 2022, forensic evidence arrived at Othram's laboratory headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. At Othram, scientists successfully extracted DNA from the provided evidence which was used in Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive SNP profile for the unknown suspect. This SNP profile powered a forensic search led by Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team.

A follow-up investigation led investigators to identify the suspect as 48-year-old Saginaw resident, Jason Robert Cabello. Cabello had previously been in a relationship with a relative of Wilton, but was not otherwise known to be associated with her.

Cabello was arrested in late 2024, and on April 20, 2026 he pleaded no contest to one count of Second-Degree Murder and one count of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct. He will be sentenced on June 1, 2026.

This is the 22nd publicly announced case in the State of Michigan where officials leveraged Othram’s identity inference pipeline. Explore other cases on Othram’s website.