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BOZEMAN — Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer says the man who killed 15-year-old Danielle Houchins has been identified.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Springer said that Paul Nathaniel Hutchinson, 55, of Dillon was identified using forensic DNA genome sequencing.
Last month, DNA evidence collected at the time of Houchins’ death was matched to Hutchinson. The day after Gallatin County law enforcement had their first interview with Hutchinson, he died by suicide.
Investigators have determined that Hutchinson and Houchins had no prior connection. Describing it as a crime of opportunity, they believe Hutchinson and Houchins randomly encountered each other at the river, where Hutchinson raped then suffocated her in shallow water.
Despite numerous suspects being interviewed over the years, Hutchinson was never connected to the case until DNA results identified him. He was a Montana State University student beginning in September of 1996, later graduating in fisheries wildlife biology. He then worked for the Montana Bureau …