Cold Case Murder Solved

The University of Missouri Police Department says it has solved the cold case murder of an MU professor.On January 7, 2005, Jeong Im, 72, was found in the trunk of his burning car in the Maryland Avenue parking garage on campus. Cops say he was stabbed to death before his body was stuffed into the trunk of his car, which was then set on fire.Police tell ABC 17 News a DNA match shows Timothy Hoag was the killer. Hoag committed suicide in August 2012 by jumping from the roof of a downtown parking garage. He was 35 when he died.MU police say that an unidentified person came forward after Hoag’s death with information linking him to the crime. A Hoag acquaintance then told university police that he drove the suspect to the garage and brought him a gasoline can.Investigators think Hoag is the sole suspect in the case. They matched him to the crime from DNA samples they took from Hoag after his suicide.The investigation will continue.”This is the most important news we will hear this year; I am profoundly grateful to MU Police Chief Jack Watring and his staff for their dedication, diligence and extraordinary investigative processes that resolved an 8-year case that has haunted our campus and the Im family,” MU Chancellor Brady Deaton said in a statement. “We are very relieved and grateful for the resolution of the case,” the Im family said in a statement released to the media. “This brings closure on the tragedy, to our family, as well as to the University of Missouri and Columbia communities as a whole.”