Arizona cold case: Ian Mitcham arrested for 2015 murder of Allison Feldman
Police in Scottsdale, Arizona, announced that Ian L. Mitcham, of Tempe, Arizona, was arrested for the 2015 murder of Allison Feldman.
Feldman, 31, was originally from Shorewood and graduated from Minnetonka High School in 2001, was last seen alive Feb. 17, 2015. Her boyfriend discovered her Feb. 18 in a pool of blood with severe head trauma at her Scottsdale home.
Investigators and crime scene specialist collected and examined DNA and forensic evidence, searched the neighborhood, talked with local residents and followed up on tips, but officials were never able to find a killer. A DNA profile of the suspected murderer was developed, but no match was found in any databases.
“During the course of the investigation, some of the items that we collected were the physical evidence and DNA evidence,” Scott Popp, Scottsdale’s assistant police chief, said at an April 10 press conference. “That DNA evidence, we were confident, belonged to our murder suspect. With that information we developed the offender profile for our murder.”
The Arizona Governor’s Office, Arizona State Attorney General’s Office, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and the Department of Public Safety all coordinated to expand their forensic search.
“A little over three years ago we suffered the loss of Allison Feldman who was brutally taken from is in our community, but during those three years we have not stopped investigating this case,” said Scottsdale Police Chief Alan Rodbell.
Mitcham, 42, has now been identified through familial DNA testing. He was identified through his brother’s DNA, which was in Arizona’s DNA database. Mitcham is being held on first-degree murder charges in the case.
Mitcham had no violent criminal history prior to his arrest. He was arrested, for aggravated driving while under the influence, in Scottsdale a month before Feldman’s murder, Popp said.
Expect more details to emerge as officials have not released the link between Mitcham and his victim.