Cops can't link Burgess, coast killings

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The murders of a young couple camped on a California beach remain unsolved after evidence collected from dead cop killer Joseph Burgess in New Mexico could not be linked to the case.

Burgess died in a July 16 shootout in a Jemez Mountain cabin that also claimed the life of Sandoval County sheriff's Sgt Joe Harris. New Mexico State Police said investigators forwarded Burgess's DNA and a .45 caliber round to the sheriff's department in Sonoma County, Cal., which considered Burgess a person of interest in the 2004 killings there.

California investigators told KRQE News 13 Friday Burgess was a potential suspect in the murders of Jason Allen, 26, and Lindsay Cutshall, 22, who were found shot to death in their tent on a beach at Jenner, Cal. Burgess's name came up because of similarities to the murders of a couple camping on Canada's west coast in 1972.

He was the prime suspect in that case after his fingerprints were found at the crime scene. However his DNA and the bullet did not match evidence in the California case.

Still Sonoma County authorities said they cannot yet exclude Burgess as a person of interest in their case.