More than three decades after an elementary school teacher was found dead just a mile from where she taught, investigators are using new DNA technology to reopen the case.

On Halloween night in 1993, 39-year-old Cherilyn Hawkley was discovered dead inside her minivan near Granite Bay. 

Hawkley was an elementary school teacher at Eureka Elementary and a mother of three. A rope was found near her body, and her vehicle remains the only known crime scene.

Despite years of investigation, the case went cold. 

Now, advances in forensic science are giving detectives new tools to re-examine key evidence.

"In this case, there is a lot of evidence gathered from the scene," said Elise Soviar with the Placer County Sheriff's Office. "That evidence is now being flagged and retested by the Department of Justice that could link the person responsible."

In 2023, the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Office formed a Cold Case Investigations Team dedicated to re-opening unsolved deaths and disappearances.

"It's really given us an opportunity to dedicate investigators, along with the Placer County Attorney's Office investigators, to reopen some of these cold cases," Soviar explained. "If there's anything worth retesting because of DNA advancements, that's what we're doing."

Investigators say the landscape of forensic work has changed dramatically in the past three decades. From enhanced DNA databases to genetic genealogy, today's technology allows detectives to connect dots that weren't possible in the 1990s.

"Technology is creating a whole new database of DNA that is able to be examined and potentially link different cases," Soviar said. "Whether it's connecting to a suspect, or to Jane or John Doe cases where the decedent hasn't been identified, it can also help us connect the family trees to identify victims in cases."

For Hawkley's family, investigators hope these advancements will finally deliver long-awaited answers and justice more than 30 years later.

Anyone with information about the death of Cherilyn Hawkley is urged to call the Placer County homicide tip line at (530) 889-7830.