Overview
- San Rafael police said Tuesday they obtained a positive DNA match tying Laurel James Switzer to cigarette butts left at the scene of Marjorie Rudolph’s 1966 homicide.
- Investigators used a Texas lab, Othram, which in 2025 extracted DNA from the decades-old cigarettes, built a genome profile, and generated leads through genetic genealogy.
- Detectives then got consented reference samples from Switzer’s surviving relatives, and the comparison confirmed that his familial DNA was on the cigarettes.
- Switzer was a contemporaneous suspect who knew the Rudolphs, and he died by suicide eight days after the killing, which police say means his exact role and motive may never be fully known.
- Two retired San Rafael investigators led the renewed effort with help from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, funded by a Season of Justice grant, in a model that has also solved other Marin cold cases and offered long-delayed answers to families.