Traci Lynn Hammerberg (March 7, 1966 – December 15, 1984) was an 18-year-old American who was killed on December 15, 1984. Her murderer was identified in 2019 through forensic genealogy.

Background

Traci Lynn Hammerberg was born March 7, 1966, to Judy Klabunde and Harlan Hammerberg in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. The family moved to

Saukville, Wisconsin Saukville is a village in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Located on the Milwaukee River with a district along Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 4,258 at the 2020 census. ...

where Hammerberg had attended Port Washington High School. According to Ozaukee County Sheriff James Johnson, on the night of the murder, Hammerberg left a house in Saukville where she was babysitting to walk to a grocery store to meet with friends. They drove to Quade's Tavern in Port Washington. She told the bartender she was going to a party in Grafton. According to the report, Hammerberg and her friends played a beer drinking game and smoked marijuana at the party. She left to walk home around 12:30 a.m. The walk was 3.7 miles along

Wisconsin Highway 33 State Trunk Highway 33 (often called Highway 33, STH-33 or WIS 33) is a Wisconsin state highway running east–west across central Wisconsin. It is in length. Route description La Crosse to Baraboo WIS 33 begins east of the Mississip ...

. She was raped, strangled, and died of head injuries. Her body was dumped on a snowy driveway on Maple Road in Grafton. Hammerberg's partially clothed body was discovered by Dan Sieracki early on Saturday.

Investigation

It was not immediately clear to the Ozaukee County Police Department if she had been killed on site or her body moved there. Authorities could not identify what had inflicted the head injuries and stated it could have been anything "from a stick to a baseball bat." The object was later identified as metallic. Neighbors in the wooded area north of Grafton did not see or hear anything unusual. Two different hunters reported seeing a car speeding away from Maple Road without headlights. The investigation was led by the Ozaukee County Sheriff's office. They received support from the

Wisconsin Department of Justice The Wisconsin Department of Justice is a state law enforcement agency with jurisdiction throughout the state of Wisconsin. Its headquarters are in Madison, the state capital, with main offices in the Risser Justice Center in downtown Madison. The ...

and the division of criminal investigation. A

Behavioral Analysis Unit The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is a department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime that uses behavioral analysts to assist in criminal investigations. Their mission is to provide behavi ...

assisted with creating a criminal profile. The Sheriff's office interviewed hundreds of witnesses. More than 400 men were eliminated as suspects through blood typing and DNA analysis. A year later, Wendy Smith, a friend and former classmate of Hammerberg was found dead. Her death was ruled a homicide while her cause of death was investigated. Hammerberg's murderer was later identified through forensic genealogy to be Philip Cross, a Wisconsin man who died in 2012 of a drug overdose. Police built a DNA profile of her alleged killer using blood from underneath her fingernails and semen recovered at the scene. The police had begun searching genealogy databases in March 2019. They later identified Cross though a second cousin. The police reached out to the Los Angeles

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) team that solved the

Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer known as the Golden State Killer, the Original Night Stalker, and the East Area Rapist, who committed at least 13 murders and numerous rapes and burglaries ...

case for their expertise with forensic genealogy technology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammerberg, Traci 1984 murders in the United States 1984 in Wisconsin Deaths by beating in the United States December 1984 in the United States Female murder victims History of women in Wisconsin Incidents of violence against women Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Rape in the 1980s Rapes in the United States Violence against women in the United States