Man who died in 1999 identified as Michigan woman's killer in Georgia cold case murder

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A more than three decade old cold case has finally been closed thanks to advanced DNA technology.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation say genealogy testing has helped to solve the 33-year-old cold case of a missing Michigan woman who was found dead in Georgia.

Stacey Lyn Chahorski's body was found in December 1988 about five miles from the Alabama state line on I-59 northbound lane in Dade County. The Norton Shores, Michigan woman was reported missing in January 1989, but her remains went unidentified for 33 years. In March 2022, the GBI, with assistance from the FBI, used a new type of genealogy testing that positively identified the remains as Chahorski. She would be 52 today.

Stacey Lyn Chahorski of Norton Shores, Michigan (GBI and FBI).

Geneology DNA would also be used to identify her killer.

On Tuesday, the GBI announced that Henry Fredrick Wise, AKA Hoss Wise, had been identified through genealogy DNA as Stacey Chahorski’s killer. Wise would have been 34 at the time of Chahorski’s murder in 1988. 

Fredrick Wise, AKA Hoss Wise (GBI and FBI).

In 1999, Wise was killed in a car accident at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina and was burned to death, according to investigators. Wise had a criminal history in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, ranging from theft, assault, to obstruction of a police officer. Wise’s arrests predate mandatory DNA testing after felony arrest.

The GBI requested the assistance of the FBI, which used Othram, a lab specializing in geneology DNA testing, and received positive results on June 13, 2022. The GBI began to interview family and obtained DNA swabs for comparison to the profile created through genealogy DNA and identified Wise.

"Mary Beth Smith, Stacey Chahorski’s mother, expresses gratitude to the FBI, GBI Special Agent Adam Jones for his relentless pursuit of the case, and GBI Forensic Artist Marla Lawson for her work on the composite drawing and clay rendering," the GBI stated in a news release. "She also thanks Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross, all the people in Dade County who took care of Stacy as she was brought home to Norton Shores, Michigan, and the Norton Shores Police Department for never giving up on finding her."