Detective uses help of father, a retired investigator, in cracking 1981 cold case killing

An Oregon man has been arrested in connection to a more than 43-year-old cold case killing after his DNA was traced to a cigarette, according to court documents and police in Indiana.

And a detective's family connection may have helped in the process.

Gregory Thurson, 64, is now charged with murder in the brutal slaying of then-51-year-old John Blaylock, the Griffith Police Department in Indiana announced this week.

On Nov. 3, 1981, police said, Blaylock was found beaten to death in the bedroom of his apartment in Griffith, a town in northern Indiana about 10 miles southwest of Gary.

A witness told police Blaylock was last seen alive at a local bar in Griffith standing at the bar with a man, court documents obtained by WGN9-TV allege. When his body was discovered, according to the documents, they found Blaylock dead, naked from the waist down with blood all over the room.

In 2018, Det. John Mowery Jr, reopened the investigation and worked the case with his father, retired Griffith Det. John Mowery Sr., initially tasked with investigating the killing in the 80s, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

The pair sent blood samples found at the scene to the Indiana State Police, the department wrote in the release, and a DNA profile was developed. Police then sent a sample to a private company that does Genetic Genealogy where investigators identified a familial match between two brothers.

A different town, a traffic stop and a tossed cigarette

In 2022, according court records obtained by the TV station, one of the brothers was pulled over for traffic infractions in Burnham, Illinois, about 17 miles northwest of Griffith, and during the incident, the brother discarded a cigarette later collected by police as evidence which excluded Thurman's brother as a suspect.

On Oct. 29, police wrote, Mowry Jr. and another detective, Jake Schoon, traveled to Eugene where Thurson was recently living, and arrested him without incident, police said. Thurson was extradited to Lake County where he was being held Friday at the Lake County jail.

It was not immediately known whether he had obtained an attorney in the case or when he is due in court next.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.