Tonya McKinley: 1985 Cold Case Solved by Genetic Genealogy

The Tonya McKinley cold case was solved in March 2020, when Pensacola detectives used genetic genealogy to identify Daniel Leonard Wells as the man who strangled and sexually assaulted the 23-year-old mother on New Year’s Day 1985. Wells was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery, but he died by apparent suicide in his jail cell two weeks later, before he ever appeared in court.¹

What Happened on New Year’s Day 1985

McKinley was last seen alive around 1:30 a.m. on January 1, 1985, at Darryl’s Bar & Grille in Pensacola, Florida, where she had been ringing in the new year. Shortly before 5:00 a.m., a family driving their dog to an all-night veterinary clinic found her body in an empty lot at the corner of Peacock Drive and Creighton Road. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted.²³

She left behind an 18-month-old son, Timothy Davidson Jr., whom her family called “Timbo.”²

Why the Case Went Cold for 35 Years

Pensacola police collected what investigators later described as “a good bit of physical evidence” and conducted dozens of interviews with McKinley’s friends, family, and anyone who may have crossed her path that night. No suspect emerged.³ Police said new leads surfaced every couple of years, but none went anywhere.⁴

McKinley’s older sister, Renee Ethridge McCall, kept the case in front of the public for years, creating a memorial Facebook page in 2012 and giving periodic interviews asking anyone with information to come forward.²

How Genetic Genealogy Solved the Case

A newer generation of Pensacola detectives had been working on the genetic genealogy angle for more than a year, according to department public information officer Mike Wood.⁵ The department partnered with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Parabon NanoLabs, a Virginia-based forensic technology company, to analyze DNA preserved from the 1985 scene.⁶

Parabon ran the crime-scene DNA through an open-source genealogy database, turning up several people believed to be distant cousins of the killer. Investigators built a family tree from those matches, eliminated other relatives, and narrowed the search to Daniel Leonard Wells, a 57-year-old Pensacola man.⁷

On March 4, 2020, officers placed Wells under surveillance and recovered a cigarette butt he tossed from his vehicle.⁴ DNA extracted from the cigarette matched the crime-scene sample. The arrest report stated there was “less than one in 700 billion chance” the DNA belonged to anyone other than Wells.⁶

It was the first time genetic genealogy had been used to solve a crime in Northwest Florida.⁶

Who Daniel Wells Was, and How He Died

Wells was arrested on March 18, 2020, and held without bond at the Escambia County Jail on first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery charges. No prior criminal record for Wells appeared in the reporting, and no earlier connection between him and McKinley was ever established. The link was forensic.⁶¹

On the morning of April 2, 2020, Wells was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide. His first court appearance had been set for April 8. Because he died before any hearing, there was no trial, no plea, no verdict, and no sentence.¹⁶

What the Arrest Meant to McKinley’s Family

Pensacola Police Chief Charles Mallett called Timothy Davidson Jr. personally to tell him about the arrest.³ Davidson, 35 by then, told The Daily Beast the news felt “still kind of unbelievable, like I’m dreaming,” and said he was happy about the arrest but would feel complete only when justice had been fully served.⁷ He later said of Wells: “My mom, she never got to raise me, never got to be a part of my life. He got to live his life the last 35 years. He got to have a family. He got to be around his children … Nothing could ever make up for losing my mom, but at least now we know what happened to her.”²

Renee McCall told NBC News she had doubted an arrest would ever come. “I didn’t really know if this would ever happen. I didn’t really think this would happen in my lifetime, not after 35 years.”⁴ Their father, Joe, had died in 2000 without ever learning who killed his daughter. After the arrest, McCall said: “She can rest now. She can finally rest.”²

The Case in Book Form

In May 2025, journalist Tony Adame published Chase the Devil: Murder and Obsession on Florida’s Gulf Coast, a nonfiction account that examines McKinley’s murder alongside a second unsolved rape and killing in the same area during early 1985. The book draws on original reporting, case files, FBI reports, and interviews with investigators, and follows the collaboration between a police detective and a journalist who worked together on a series of violent Gulf Coast crimes in the early 1980s.⁸

1
NBC Miami. Florida Man Linked by DNA to 1985 Murder Found Dead in Cell
2
Pensacola News Journal. Pensacola Police Make Arrest in 35-Year-Old Cold Case Murder
3
ABC News. DNA From Discarded Cigarette Solves 1985 Cold Case Murder
4
NBC News. Florida Man Arrested in 35-Year-Old Cold Case Murder
5
Good Morning America. DNA From Discarded Cigarette Solves 1985 Cold Case Murder
6
Pensacola News Journal. Suspect in 35-Year-Old Pensacola Cold Case Commits Suicide in Jail Cell
7
BBC News. DNA From Discarded Cigarette Solves 1985 Cold Case Murder
8
Google Books. Chase the Devil: Murder and Obsession on Florida’s Gulf Coast