McMenamin’s Mends sMve for closure
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
They won’t let Tina’s case die.
Friends and family of former
UNL student Tina McMenamin are
trying to generate
renewed interest
in solving her
murder after
DNA testing
recently released
the man accused
of the crime.
The same
blond hair that led
police to arrest
Gregory Gabel two years ago freed
him in July when additional DNA
testing done this spring showed the
hair was not Gabel’s.
Emotionally, McMenamin’s
friends and family are back at square
one with no apparent end to the
ordeal in sight.
“There’s no closure without a
trial,” Bernadette McMenamin,
Tina’s mother, said. “It’s still an
unsolved crime.”
Investigators are continuing to
look at the case, and they still consid
er Gabel a viable suspect, Lincoln
Police Capt. Jim Peschong said.
The police are reevaluating the
conclusions that led them to Gabel
and working to clear up any remain
ing questions from the first investiga
tion, Peschong said.
Police again are interviewing peo
ple from the first investigation in
search of new evidence in the 3-year
old trail.
The case began on July 25, 1995,
when McMenamin’s roommate,
Sarah Bognich, came home to their
south Lincoln apartment to find
Tina’s body.
Bognich and McMenamin,
friends from their days at Omaha’s
Gross High School, had just complet
ed their freshman year at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Police reports said McMenamin
was sexually assaulted, beaten and
stabbed.
Bognich described McMenamin
as “a fun-loving person who loved
people.”
The police conducted a thorough
investigation, but leads were few and
an arrest was not made until spring
1996.
During the past two years, court
hearings have focused on the admis
sibility of those initial DNA tests and
whether Gabel was competent to
stand trial before he was released this
summer.
Lancaster County Attorney Gary
Lacey said this was the first murder
case in Lancaster County that used
the mitochondrial DNA test.
The test determined that the hair
found clutched in McMenamin’s hand
did not come from Gabel, Lacey said.
Mitochondria are in the area
between a cell’s nucleus and cell wall
and produce energy for the cell.
Mitochondrial DNA tests are used
when the sample is in poor condition.
The strand of hair in the
McMenamin case was damaged and
included only part of the root, which
was used up in the initial DNA test to
arrest Gabel.
The results of the test, however,
could remain an important piece of
evidence in continuing the investiga
tion.
“It is a logical assumption that the
hair belonged to someone
(McMenamin) was struggling with,”
a
There s no closure
without a trial Its still
an unsolved crime.
Bernadette McMenamin
Tina McMenamin’s mother
Lacey said.
To help with the cost of further
DNA testing and investigations,
Bognich and a friend, Lou Friend,
started a trust fund in Tina’s name at
the National Bank of Commerce.
The DNA test that freed Gabel
cost about $10,500. There also was a
six-month waiting list because only
three places in the United States can
test mitochondrial DNA.
If McMenamin’s case is solved,
any additional money will be used for
other murder investigations in
Lincoln.
Bognich and Friend also released
to the media a video of McMenamin
and friends at a football game in the
hopes that live footage may help
someone remember something about
that day.
“Somebody knows something,”
Friend said, “and if the person
responsible is out there, I believe it
will happen again.”
Crimestoppers still is offering a
$15,000 reward for information lead
ing to the arrest of the person or per
sons responsible for the murder.
“Remember, this could have been
anybody,” Friend said, “anybody’s
daughter, any college student.”
Donations can be made to the
fund to help pay for the investigation
by sending donations to NBC Bank,
c/o Tina McMenamin, 1248 O St.,
Lincoln, NE 68508.
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