In a stunning breakthrough, the cold case murder of 19-year-old Nancy Anderson, who was brutally killed in her Honolulu apartment in 1972, has finally been solved after more than five decades.
Nancy’s tragic death has been the subject of a gripping investigation in the latest episode of People Magazine Investigates on Investigation Discovery, airing on December 2.
Nancy Anderson, a recent high school graduate from Colorado, moved to Hawaii in 1971 in search of adventure and self-discovery.
She quickly settled into life on the island, working at a McDonald’s and making new friends.
However, on January 7, 1972, her life was violently cut short when she was found stabbed 63 times in her apartment. Initially, investigators were stumped, and the case remained unsolved, becoming Hawaii’s oldest cold case.
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The breakthrough came in 2019 when Nancy’s brother, Jack Anderson, enlisted the help of renowned forensic genealogist CeCe Moore, who specializes in solving cold cases using DNA.
Moore’s team used DNA from a towel found at the crime scene, where the killer had cut himself during the brutal attack, to trace potential relatives through genetic databases.
This led them to Tudor Chirila, a former university teaching assistant who had lived near Nancy in Waikiki at the time of her death.
In 2021, police arrested Chirila, now 77, after gathering a DNA sample from him.
However, on Christmas Day 2023, just months after being charged with Nancy’s murder, Chirila died in custody from refusing food and medication.
Though he never stood trial, Nancy’s family feels a sense of justice has been served.
“The case was never forgotten by our family,” says Nancy’s sister Carol Sampson. “Nancy, we did this for you. There’s been justice for you.”