Nearly three decades after 15-year-old Danielle “Danni” Houchins was found dead near a Montana fishing spot, authorities say DNA has finally led to her killer – a married father of two who committed suicide just hours after being questioned by investigators about the unsolved case.
The Gatlin County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that authorities recently identified Houchin’s killer as 55-year-old Paul Hutchinson thanks to cutting-edge DNA testing and forensic genealogy.
On Sept. 21, 1996, Houchins left her home in Belgrade, Montana, around 11 a.m., and when she didn’t return, her family called police. Her mother found Houchins’ truck at a popular fishing spot on the Gallatin River, and later that night, Houchins’ body was found face down in shallow water, the sheriff’s office said.
Gatlin County Sheriff’s Office
DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene and numerous suspects were interviewed over the years, but no arrests were made and the case was closed.
Eventually, authorities renewed their efforts to solve the case, and when Dan Springer became sheriff of Gallatin County in 2021, he brought in two outside experts from California to assist him – private investigator Tom Elfmont, a retired officer of the Los Angeles Police Department, and Sergeant Court Depweg, who specializes in the use of DNA technology to solve murder cases.
Four hairs collected from Houchin’s body at the crime scene were used to create a partial DNA profile, the sheriff’s office said. That profile was eventually sent to a lab in Virginia, where genealogists used DNA databases to identify Hutchinson as a possible suspect.
On July 23, 2024, Elfmont and Depweg interviewed Hutchinson, who lived in Dillon, Montana, about 100 miles from the crime scene.
“During the nearly two-hour interrogation, Hutchinson, who had been living in Bozeman at the time of Houchin’s death, displayed extreme nervousness,” the sheriff’s office said. “Investigators observed him sweating profusely, scratching his face and chewing his hand. When shown a photo of Houchin, Hutchinson slumped in his chair and showed signs of discomfort. After his release, his behavior was observed to be erratic.”
Early the next morning, officials said, Hutchinson called the Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Office and said he needed help before hanging up. He was found on the side of the road, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators concluded that Houchins and Hutchinson did not know each other and called the murder a “crime of opportunity.” They believed that Hutchinson, then a student at Montana State University, encountered Houchins by chance before raping her and suffocating her in shallow water.
According to authorities, Hutchinson graduated with a degree in fisheries biology and then worked for the Montana Bureau of Land Management for 22 years. He had no criminal record, was married and had two adult children.
“This case is an example of our relentless pursuit of justice. We never gave up on finding the truth for Danni and her family and exhausted every means necessary to close this heartbreaking chapter,” said Sheriff Springer. “The investigation remained open because we knew Danni was murdered and one day we would have the means to solve this case.”
Houchin’s younger sister, Stephanie Mollet, spoke alongside the sheriff at a press conference on Thursday.
“Even though this man will not stand before a court of his fellow citizens, I have no doubt that he was the one who violently and brutally sexually abused my sister and then pushed her head into a swamp until she suffocated in the mud,” Mollet said. “When the time came to face up to his violent act and to be held accountable, he chose instead to end his life. He knew his guilt and could not face me or his family and the pain he had caused.”
The announcement by authorities in Montana comes just days after an unsolved murder case in Hawaii was finally solved through DNA testing. Suspect also died by suicide before he could be arrested.
