Naman Shrestha
When 15-year-old Danni Houchins met her demise in 1996 under mysterious and suspicious circumstances, the authorities immediately launched an extensive investigation to get to the bottom of the case. Unfortunately, the devastated family members and other loved ones of the victim had to stay patient as her killer was not identified until 25 years later. Thanks to DNA evidence from the crime scene, Paul Hutchinson was suspected to be the perpetrator responsible for the murder. The episode titled ‘It’s About Danni’ of CBS’ ’48 Hours’ explores the entire case and the investigation that ensued in a detailed manner.
Paul Hutchinson Was Linked to the Murder of Danni Houchins After More Than Two Decades
Born on June 13, 1969, in Nashua, New Hampshire, to Paul Fred Hutchinson and Sheila M. Stanton Hutchinson, Paul Nathaniel “Bubba” Hutchinson graduated from Montana State University before pursuing fisheries wildlife biology. Given his educational background, he managed to land a job at the Montana Bureau of Land Management, where he would work for more than two decades. He went on to get married to Kristy Hutchinson, with whom he parented two children. Despite having a clean rap sheet, Paul was suddenly considered a possible suspect in the murder case of a 15-year-old girl named Danielle ‘Danni’ Houchins, who was found dead on September 21, 1996.
On the fateful day, the Belgrade, Montana, teenage resident went to fish at the Cameron Bridge Fishing Access but never returned. Several hours of extensive search later, her body was found by his loved ones in Cameron Bridge, under a tree. The autopsy reports suggested signs of sexual evidence and a hint of foreign DNA — four strands of hair. Although the investigators questioned several potential suspects and followed trials of leads, all of them led them to dead ends, and eventually, the case turned cold.
Fast forward to 23 years, with the advent of new DNA technology, Danni’s murder case was reopened in 2019. A couple of years later, in 2021, the preserved DNA evidence was first studied at the Astria Forensics in California, which didn’t yield any results. Hoping to get to the bottom of the case, the investigators then sent the DNA profile to Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia. Finally, the advanced DNA technology led the authorities to Paul Hutchinson, who had never been connected to the case before.
Paul Hutchinson Was Found Dead The Day After His Interrogation
A few years after digging into the life of Paul Hutchinson, the investigators brought him into questioning on July 23, 2024. During the two-hour interview, the suspect reportedly showed signs of extreme nervousness as the detectives noticed him scratching his face, sweating too much, and chewing on his hand. He was visibly uncomfortable when they showed him a picture of Danni. Since the detective couldn’t charge him with the murder due to a lack of a confession or incriminating evidence, they had no other option than to let him go. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Paul reportedly called the police around 4:15 am the next morning, July 24, and claimed that he needed some assistance before hanging up.
As the detectives arrived at the site in Montana’s Beaverhead County, they were met with his dead body on the side of the road. Further reports proved that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Soon after the suicide, the police received confirmation that the DNA belonged to the 55-year-old man. According to the authorities, “Hutchinson and Houchins randomly encountered each other at the river, where Hutchinson raped then suffocated her in shallow water.” On August 8, 2024, it was officially announced that Paul Hutchinson was responsible for the murder of Danni in 1996, and he was identified with the help of forensic DNA genome sequencing.
Following the announcement, the victim’s sister, Stephanie Mollet, stated, “After nearly 28 years without answers, without justice. We celebrate today. Even though this man will not face a jury of his peers, I have no doubt he was the one who forcefully and violently sexually assaulted my sister, then held her head down in a marsh until she choked to death on mud. When the time came to face up and account for his violence, he instead chose to end his life. He knew of his guilt and couldn’t face my family or his family and the pain he had caused.”
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