Michigan – More than 23 years after Jeanette Wilton was found dead near her Saginaw home, a long-unsolved case has moved closer to its final chapter.
Jason Robert Cabello, 48, of Saginaw, pleaded no contest on April 20 in Saginaw County’s 10th Circuit Court to Second-Degree Murder and First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.
The plea was entered before Judge Manvel Trice III in connection with the 2003 murder and sexual assault of Wilton, 57, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Wilton was discovered dead in the Flint River on February 22, 2003. An autopsy later determined that she died from strangulation and multiple stab wounds to the neck. Investigators also found blunt force trauma to her head and face, contusions, and postmortem abrasions.
For years, the case remained open, but without the answers Wilton’s family and community had waited for. Cabello had once been in a relationship with one of Wilton’s relatives, though he was not otherwise known to be connected to her.
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The case took a major turn in 2021, when the Michigan State Police Third District Cold Case Team reopened the investigation. Nearly two decades had passed, but evidence collected in 2003 was examined again as DNA testing technology had advanced.
With help from Western Michigan University’s Cold Case program and the MSP laboratory, investigators used a cold case grant to send reanalyzed evidence to a private lab.
That work led to the development of a DNA profile for an unknown suspect through Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing.
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Detectives later confirmed that Cabello’s DNA matched DNA collected in the original investigation. MSP referred the case to the Department of Attorney General in September 2024, and Cabello was charged in December 2024.
“For more than two decades, Jeanette’s loved ones carried the weight of an unsolved tragedy,” said Attorney General Nessel.
“I am grateful for the excellent work of the Michigan State Police, Western Michigan University, and prosecutors in my office who all worked diligently to secure this conviction. Their dedication did not just solve a cold case. It finally brought justice to Jeanette, her family and friends while proving that no passage of time can stand in the way of accountability.”
Michigan State Police Director Col. James F. Grady II said the breakthrough brought long-awaited answers and showed how forensic science, including DNA and forensic genetic genealogy, continues to transform cold case investigations.
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Cabello is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Trice on June 1, 2026.