A 1987 cold case murder in Carlsbad has been solved. In July of 1987, Donna Sue Hyatt was found dead at her home. The investigation later determined tha Hyatt had been sexually assaulted and murdered. Before her death, witnesses told police they had seen Donna with a tall, white male, leaving a nearby store on foot. The investigation stalled and the murder had gone unsolved since 1987.
Armed with new DNA technology, two Carlsbad detectives worked diligently to identify a suspect as Michael Ruff Wigley, who was a suspect in two sexual assault cases in West Texas in the 1980’s. After serving time in prison, Wigley was killed in a traffic crash in 1989.
Last month, Wigley’s body was exhumed in order to get a new DNA sample, which positively matched the sample taken from Hyatt’s body in 1987.