Alone With a Killer: Genetic Genealogy Solves 1996 Death of 15‑Year‑Old Danni Houchins

Alone With a Killer in the Montana Wilderness

Late on Sept. 21, 1996, searchers discovered the body of 15‑year‑old Danielle "Danni" Houchins in a swampy area beside the Gallatin River, just outside Bozeman, Montana. How Danni ended up face down in the mud remained a mystery for decades, leaving her family, friends and investigators with unanswered questions.

Initial Investigation and Questions

On the morning she disappeared, Danni — after a family argument, according to her sister Stephanie Mollet — drove to the Cameron Bridge Fishing Access to get away. When she did not return that afternoon, her mother found Danni's truck in the lot and her keys and water bottle along a nearby trail. Deputies from the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office began a search but halted at nightfall. Later that evening, local friends familiar with the marshy, heavily wooded terrain found Danni's body in dense, muddy undergrowth well off the main path.

Initial public speculation suggested foul play, and detectives processed the scene and interviewed people close to Danni. Within days the coroner listed the cause of death as drowning and the manner as "undetermined." Officials told the family the death could have been accidental — a conclusion Stephanie found hard to accept given Danni's outdoorsy skills and comfort in remote terrain.

Evidence Reexamined Decades Later

The case went cold until new detectives reopened it in 2020 after Mollet pressed the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office for answers. Reviewing the autopsy, Mollet learned of bruises, including marks on the back of Danni's neck, vaginal injuries, semen in her underwear, and defensive scratches — findings that suggested a violent assault rather than a simple accident.

The sheriff assigned retired investigator Tom Elfmont to the file. Using modern forensic methods, investigators obtained a partial DNA profile from semen recovered on Danni's undergarments, but it did not yield a match. Elfmont then focused on four male hairs recovered from the victim. Although the hairs were "rootless" and long considered poor sources of DNA, a private, state‑of‑the‑art laboratory was able to produce a full DNA profile from one of those hairs.

Genetic Genealogy Leads to a Name

Elfmont shared the DNA profile with an investigative genetic genealogist, who used family‑tree research to search for potential relatives of the unknown contributor. In May 2024 their work pointed to a suspect: Paul Hutchinson.

Records show Hutchinson had been a graduate student in Bozeman in 1996 and held a work‑study with the Fish and Wildlife Service, which would have brought him to waterways near Belgrade. He later worked as a fisheries biologist for the Bureau of Land Management, had no criminal record, and was active in local hunting and fishing circles.

Final Developments

In July 2024, Elfmont and a partner interviewed Hutchinson at his office while recording with body cameras. Hutchinson appeared visibly nervous when questioned about the case. Although detectives did not yet have arrestable evidence at that moment, Hutchinson died by suicide hours after the interview. Subsequent testing confirmed his DNA matched the profile obtained from material on Danni's body.

The Gallatin County sheriff publicly announced the long‑unsolved case had been resolved. For Danni's family, the identification brought a painful mix of relief and loss: their persistence and advances in DNA analysis and genetic genealogy finally produced a link that had eluded investigators for nearly 30 years.

Note: This report contains references to sexual violence. Details are included to accurately reflect the medical and investigative findings.