Dayton police and the FBI arrested a man on murder charges in the 2003 killing of Arlene Hall after a DNA match linked him to evidence recovered from the victim's clothing, closing a case that sat cold for more than two decades.
Jesse James Lockley Jr. now sits in the Montgomery County Jail after detectives brought him in for questioning and he made incriminating statements, WHIO reported. Murder charges have been approved against him in connection with Hall's death, which authorities ruled a homicide by strangulation.
Hall was last seen alive on March 19, 2003. Her son reported her missing on April 3 of that year, fifteen days later. Police found her body on April 21, 2003, in the basement of a building at 2027 Germantown Street in Dayton, Ohio. The medical examiner determined she had been strangled.
Twenty-two years of silence before a DNA hit broke the case
After Hall's body was discovered, investigators pursued several leads but could not identify a solid suspect. The case went cold.
It stayed that way for more than two decades. Then, in December 2025, the Dayton Police Department's Cold Case Unit gave the file a fresh look. Detectives pulled physical evidence from the case and submitted it for DNA testing at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime laboratory.
On July 10, 2026, the BCI lab notified Dayton police that it had found DNA belonging to an unknown male on Hall's clothing. Later that same month, the state crime lab informed detectives that the DNA profile matched Lockley.
The case is one of a growing number of cold cases cracked by advances in DNA technology. In a similar case in Orlando, DNA evidence led to an arrest nearly four decades after the original killing.
Armed with the match, Dayton police and the FBI located Lockley and brought him to the city's safety building for an interview. During questioning, Lockley made statements that detectives described as incriminating. Authorities approved murder charges, and Lockley was booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
Dayton's police chief credits persistent detective work
Dayton Police Chief Eric Henderson praised the officers and outside agencies involved in resolving the case.
"This case is another example of the great work by the men and women in our Homicide and Cold Case Units, as well as their commitment to the never-ending pursuit of justice."
Henderson also addressed Hall's family directly, acknowledging the limits of what an arrest can do after so many years.
"While an arrest cannot erase the pain of losing a loved one, we hope that this development can bring some closure to Ms. Hall's family."
The chief added that he appreciated "the hard work of everyone both within the Dayton Police Department and outside agencies who helped play a role in seeking justice for Ms. Hall."
The case underscores a broader pattern of cold case breakthroughs driven by DNA science and dogged investigative units. In Ohio alone, police recently helped crack a 30-year California cold case after DNA linked remains to a missing man.
Key questions remain unanswered
Several details remain unclear. Authorities have not disclosed what prompted the December 2025 review of Hall's case specifically, nor have they revealed Lockley's connection, if any, to Hall or to the Germantown Street property where her body was found. No motive has been made public.
It is also unclear which authority formally approved the murder charges, whether a county prosecutor's office or a grand jury, and whether Lockley has been arraigned or entered a plea.
Across the country, cold case units and forensic genealogy programs have delivered similar results in recent years. A Florida sheriff used forensic genealogy to identify a man found in a waterway in 1983, and an FBI DNA genealogy program helped Arlington police arrest a suspect in a 2012 stabbing cold case.
For Arlene Hall's family, the arrest comes more than twenty-two years after they last saw her alive. Her son was the one who reported her missing in 2003. He waited fifteen days before calling police. Eighteen days after that, officers found her body in a basement.
Justice delayed is never justice denied, not when the detectives refuse to let a case die and the evidence finally speaks for itself.
