After 38 years of questions in Silsbee, Texas, investigators say forensic genetic genealogy has finally given them a name in the 1988 killing of Caroline Susan Bolen. The man identified is Allen Wayne Mosley. The development follows new testing of preserved DNA and marks the latest scientific turn in a case that baffled local detectives for decades, while Bolen's family and the tight-knit Hardin County community waited for answers.
On July 28, 1988, 26-year-old Caroline Susan Bolen was found dead inside her Silsbee home. Silsbee police and the Texas Rangers launched an extensive investigation that produced no viable leads at the time, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The agency's cold-case file notes the investigation was reassigned and reopened in 2019 as detectives went back over earlier work. Officials say Bolen’s six-year-old son was inside the house when officers arrived.
Reopen, Reexamine, Retool
As DNA technology advanced, detectives took a fresh look at the original evidence. The autopsy listed asphyxia as the cause of death and suggested a sexually related homicide, the Houston Chronicle reported. That push to rework the old evidence opened the door for more sensitive sequencing and genetic-genealogy searches, in the hope that newer methods could provide leads where earlier STR testing and CODIS checks had come up empty.
How Forensic Genealogy Led To A Name
Using funding from the nonprofit Season of Justice, investigators submitted preserved biological material to Othram in October 2022. Othram's lab built a SNP profile that was then used in a forensic genetic-genealogy search, DNASolves reports. Those leads reportedly pointed detectives to relatives and eventually to Allen Wayne Mosley, whose DNA investigators say matches evidence recovered from the scene. The DNASolves summary notes that Mosley lived on a street adjacent to Bolen’s home at the time and that earlier investigative records connected him to a separate sexual-assault case.
Public records and a local obituary show that an Allen Wayne Mosley died in Tulsa in 2006, according to Farmer Funeral Home. The funeral notice lists Mosley’s death and Tulsa residence but does not address the decades-old investigation. Because the person identified is reportedly deceased, criminal prosecution cannot move forward.
Where The Case Stands Now
The Silsbee Police Department and Texas Rangers say they will continue to accept tips and review any information that surfaces. The Texas Department of Public Safety's cold-case page lists contact numbers and a Crime Stoppers hotline for anonymous tips, the Texas Department of Public Safety notes. DNASolves has published a summary of the laboratory and genealogical work that produced the name, and local TV coverage of the development aired on 12NewsNow. Investigators are asking anyone with information to call the Silsbee investigator listed on the DPS file.
