The town of Kalkaska will endure a second long trial in a rape and murder from the 1990s.
The trial for Jason Ryan will revisit the horrific story of a widow’s last moments. But the jury will hear evidence in this trial that is vastly different from the first one.
Jason Ryan was staying just down the street from Geraldine Montgomery in October, 1996. That’s when Montgomery was found dead in the trunk of her car, asphyxiated as it ran in her closed garage.
Now, 18 years later, prosecutors will try to convict Ryan of raping and murdering Montgomery. Crime scene DNA was put on a nationwide database just last year and matched Ryan.
Ironically, Ryan was questioned and even swabbed for DNA early on. He was dropped as a suspect after passing a lie-detector test.
DNA also cleared Jamie Peterson of the murder earlier this year, after 16 years in prison.
Jury selection began this morning and Ryan’s trial is expected to take up to two weeks.