DNA: ID — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Sharon Hammack and Dusty Schuck, Part 1 of 2
Podcast: DNA: ID
Date: May 12, 2025
Host: AbJack Entertainment

Overview

This episode explores the cold cases of Sharon Hammack (Michigan, 1996) and Dusty Schuck (Maryland, 2006), two women whose murders remained unsolved for decades before breakthroughs through forensic genetic genealogy linked their killings to a previously unknown serial predator. The host narrates the development of both cases—detailing each woman’s life, the initial investigations, dead ends, and shifts in investigative technology, culminating in the use of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) and the revelation of likely suspect Gary Dean Artman.

1. The Discovery of Sharon Hammack (Michigan, 1996)

[02:38] - [06:20] Crime Scene and Victim Discovery

• On the morning of October 3, 1996, truck drivers Richard Anderson and Russ Blake discover a beige bloodstained blanket on the roadside in Caledonia Township, Kent County, Michigan.
• Inside: the naked, hogtied body of a woman identified later that evening via fingerprints as Sharon Hammack, age 29.
• She had been raped, strangled, stabbed, and was about four or five months pregnant. Evidence of sexual assault and physical trauma was clear.
• “Someone had gripped her neck so hard that impressions of the pearls were embedded into her neck.” (Host, 06:15)

[06:20] - [10:24] Victim Background: Sharon Hammack

• Sharon struggled with addiction, leading to sex work to sustain her drug use. Her family, including sisters and mother, describe years of attempts to help her and their heartbreak at her fate.
  • “Sharon wanted everything out of life for her children. I don't know who she got hooked up with on drugs…then she got so far into the crack it took her downhill.” (Sister Terri, cited at 09:28)
  • The family last saw Sharon a few weeks before her death. Both of her young children, previously removed by Child Services, eventually learned of her fate years later through a newspaper.
• Sharon was one of several sex workers murdered in the mid-1990s in the Grand Rapids area.

2. The Investigation: Early Suspects & The Serial Pattern

[14:31] - [27:21] Crime Scene & Leads

• Investigators explored the scene, collecting various items (cigarette butts, a cigarette box) and canvassing nearby homes, but no witnesses.
• Several men who knew Sharon—johns, acquaintances, friends, pimps, and ex-husband—were grilled extensively but ruled out through alibi or DNA.
• The timeline of Sharon’s last hours was muddied by conflicting witness accounts. Most agreed she was last seen around 5:00 a.m. at Banner and Division in Grand Rapids.

[22:03] Discussion of Serial Murders

• Sharon was the ninth victim in a series of slayings—sex workers along Division Avenue—plaguing the area between 1994 and 1996. Most were strangled; DNA evidence revealed at least three different killers. A multi-agency task force formed but achieved no arrests.

  “Nearly all of the victims were last seen on or near a three mile stretch of Division Avenue south, the center of the city’s red-light district.” (Host, quoting Wood TV, 23:44)

3. The Case Goes Cold & DNA Developments

[27:21] - [41:40] Taskforce Efforts, Exonerated Suspects, and Stalled Leads

• Suspects included Jamil Lacy (convicted of brutal attacks on sex workers, but DNA did not match) and a violent local pimp Gregory Kelly (also no DNA match).

• Despite high-profile vigils and public campaigns, the “Hamack homicide” (and linked killings) grew cold.

• In the early 2000s, Sharon's evidence was re-tested and a STR DNA profile (a male, not in existing databases) was uploaded to CODIS.

  “We are hopeful that the DNA in the CODIS system will eventually reveal the person responsible for Sharon Hamack's homicide.” (Detective Coxon's report, read by host, 41:23)

4. The 2006 Maryland “Gypsy Rose” Murder: Dusty Schuck

[45:39] - [1:05:10] The Death of Dusty Schuck and the DNA Link

• On May 4, 2006, Dusty Schuck’s body is found near a Maryland interstate. She had been raped, stabbed, and beaten. She had mental health struggles and was last seen after evading a treatment facility in Arizona, traveling through New Mexico and California.
• Maryland law enforcement suspects a long-haul trucker due to location and witness reports of her traveling across the country and being seen at truck stops.
• Dusty’s DNA evidence, entered into CODIS, generates a hit: it matches the unknown male profile from Sharon Hammack’s 1996 Michigan murder.
  • "In 2008, a search of CODIS resulted in an unknown DNA match between Sharon's unsolved 1996 Michigan State Police case and a 2006 Maryland State Police case." (Host, 45:39)

5. Genetic Genealogy and The Search for the Killer

[1:05:10] - [1:13:10] IGG (Investigative Genetic Genealogy) Breakthroughs

• In 2021, Michigan assigned Det. John Tienhoff to the Hammack case, seeking IGG assistance from Identifinders International.

• Bioinformatics and genetic genealogy traced the unknown suspect’s DNA to descendants of two family lines, converging on the Artman and Rumps families of Michigan.

• Four brothers are identified, all potential sources of the forensic profile, but one stands out: Gary Dean Artman—with ties to Michigan, a criminal record for sexual assault, and employment as a long-haul trucker.

  “Based on the DNA, any one of these sons could...be the man who left his semen on Sharon Hamack's body and the blanket. But she had good reason to prioritize one of the brothers over the other three. Gary Dean Artman had ties to Michigan, had a history of sexual assault, and was employed as a long haul trucker.” (Host, 1:12:45)

6. Notable/Emotional Quotes & Moments

• “Me and my mom would drive up and down Division Avenue and Sharon would be right there behind a little motel near 28th Street. We'd see her and we'd come up to her and stop, and she'd run because she didn't want us to see her like that.” (Terri, Sharon’s sister, 09:55)
• “These two new detectives really think I'm the killer and they go as far as to tell girls to stay away from me because I'm a killer and they will be next.” (Gregory Kelly, quoted, 39:34)
• “I have no suspects whatsoever.” (Det. Rick Bechtel, Maryland, on Dusty’s case, 59:52)

7. Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:38] Discovery of Sharon Hammack’s body
• [06:20] Family background and Sharon’s life
• [14:31] Investigation details, crime scene analysis
• [22:03] Serial pattern and community response
• [27:21] Exoneration of suspects, continued failures of the task force
• [45:39] Discovery and investigation of Dusty Schuck’s murder, cross-country odyssey
• [1:05:10] CODIS connection between Sharon and Dusty’s murders
• [1:09:30–1:13:10] Investigative genealogy solves the identity puzzle, focus shifts to Gary Dean Artman

8. Tone and Presentation

The host maintains a detail-driven, methodical, yet compassionate tone throughout, giving voice to the social realities faced by the victims and treating both their lives and struggles with respect.

9. Episode Conclusion

Part 1 concludes with the identification of the likely perpetrator via genetic genealogy—Gary Dean Artman, whose occupation and history match the evolving evidence. The story continues in Part 2 with the aftermath, arrest, and impact of these revelations.

For listeners: This episode offers an engrossing, in-depth look at how legacy DNA evidence, dogged investigation, and cutting-edge genetic genealogy can finally answer cases once thought unsolvable—while giving overdue humanity to victims largely forgotten by the system.