35-year-old cigarette butt leads to murder charge in cold case, Oklahoma officials say

A cigarette butt from 1985 has led to a murder charge in a decades-old cold case in Oklahoma, officials said this week.

Paul Aikman was at a Lincoln County rest stop on the Turner Turnpike — which connects Tulsa and Oklahoma City — when he was stabbed to death in September 1985, according to a July 20 news release from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office.

Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation collected several cigarette butts from the scene of the crime along with latent finger prints, officials said.

From one of the cigarette butts, officials were able to develop a DNA profile, but the case ultimately cooled, according to officials.

Last year, officials received a hit on the national DNA database linking the DNA to Earl Wilson, 55. The fingerprint from the scene was then matched to Wilson, officials said.

“Advances in DNA technology are allowing authorities to take another look at these difficult cases,” Attorney General Mike Hunter said.

“Just because cases go cold doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t be held responsible, even after three decades. I appreciate OSBI Director Ricky Adams, who has put a priority on these cases through the development of the Cold Case Unit,” he said.

Wilson is currently incarcerated for a number of unrelated crimes.

He’s now charged with first-degree murder in the death of Aikman.

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 9:51 AM with the headline "35-year-old cigarette butt leads to murder charge in cold case, Oklahoma officials say."