Forensic genetic genealogy has identified Brian James Anderson as the suspect in the 1997 rape and fatal bludgeoning of 45-year-old floral designer Margaret Anselmo, whose body was found in a Spokane alley on Jan. 3, 1997. Evidence from the scene was sent in 2022 to Othram, which sequenced DNA and used genealogical databases to identify relatives whose tests matched a child and a half-sibling of the suspect. Anderson died by suicide in 2009 and would face first-degree rape and murder charges if he were alive. Investigators say the motive remains unknown.
DNA Breakthrough Identifies Suspect in 1997 Spokane Cold-Case Murder of Floral Designer Margaret Anselmo
Forensic genetic genealogy has identified Brian James Anderson as the suspect in the 1997 rape and fatal bludgeoning of 45-year-old floral designer Margaret Anselmo, whose body was found in a Spokane alley on Jan. 3, 1997. Evidence from the scene was sent in 2022 to Othram, which sequenced DNA and used genealogical databases to identify relatives whose tests matched a child and a half-sibling of the suspect. Anderson died by suicide in 2009 and would face first-degree rape and murder charges if he were alive. Investigators say the motive remains unknown.
10:51 AM, 11/13/2025Society
DNA breakthrough solves 1997 cold-case in Spokane
After nearly three decades without answers, investigators say forensic genetic genealogy has identified the suspect in the 1997 killing of Spokane floral designer and mother of two, Margaret Anselmo.
On the afternoon of Jan. 3, 1997, a delivery driver discovered Anselmo's body face down beneath an abandoned semi-truck trailer in a snowy alley at 714 E. Pacific Ave., on the edge of downtown Spokane. The medical examiner ruled blunt-force trauma to the head as the cause of death; investigators later concluded she had also been sexually assaulted. Early evidence collected at the scene produced no leads.
New science, old evidence
In 2022, the Spokane Police Department and the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab sent physical evidence from the scene to Othram, a Texas-based company that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy. Othram scientists sequenced DNA from the evidence to build a genome-based profile and used genetic genealogy databases to identify potential relatives of the suspect.
Detectives contacted the family members identified through that search. Laboratory testing showed one relative was the child of the suspect and another was a half-sibling; the only person matching that family pattern was identified as Brian James Anderson. Anderson, a Pend Oreille County resident who later fathered two children and worked at a hardware store, died by suicide in 2009. Investigators believe he was about 20 years old at the time of Anselmo's death; she was 45.
Authorities noted that when Anselmo's body was found, money remained in her purse, suggesting robbery was not the motive. The Spokane Police Department said that if Anderson were alive today he would face charges of first-degree rape and first-degree murder. Investigators have not established a motive.
“This case is a powerful reminder that time and persistence, combined with advances in forensic DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy, can bring long-awaited answers even decades after a crime,” Othram wrote on its website.
Othram's website also says this is the 41st case in Washington in which its forensic genetic genealogy work has helped identify a suspect. The discovery brings closure to a case that left a family waiting for nearly 28 years.