JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Authorities said Thursday that DNA was the key to finding the suspect in the cold case killing of a young mother-to-be and military spouse.
Tina Livernash Heins, 20, who was 15 weeks pregnant, was found stabbed to death in her Atlantic Beach apartment on April 17, 1994.
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On Thursday afternoon, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced that Michael Shane Ziegler is in custody in Duval County on charges of murder and sexual battery in Tina’s death.
Tina lived at the Heron Pointe Apartments with her husband Jeremy, who was in the Navy, and her brother-in-law, Chad Heins.
Jeremy was working overnight at Naval Station Mayport at the time Tina was killed. Chad was the only other person known to be in the apartment with Tina at the time and said he slept through the attack.
Chad Heins was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to prison in Tina’s killing. But in 2007, he was released after DNA evidence found someone else was inside the apartment.
“A DNA profile of an unknown man emerged. DNA from under Tina’s nails, from hairs collected from her body, and from a semen stain on her sheets, were from a man who was not her husband and not her brother in law Chad,” Nelson said.
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After the breakthrough of the Golden State Killer case in 2021, Nelson said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement recommended that the DNA be sent to Othram Labs in Texas, which had success in identifying people through minute amounts of DNA.
Othram began genetic genealogy searches and this is how Ziegler was eventually identified, Nelson said.
On Thursday, August 28, a Duval County Grand Jury indicted Ziegler on murder and sexual battery charges.
Ziegler was living with his mother outside of Atlanta and is a retired merchant marine, Nelson said. In 1994, Ziegler was stationed at Mayport abord the USS Leyte Gulf, just like Jeremy was.
Nelson said Thursday that Ziegler was a very close friend of Tina’s husband Jeremy and was a witness at the couple’s courthouse wedding five months before Tina was killed.
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PHOTOS: Cold case of young mom murdered in Jacksonville area in 1994
Ziegler was arrested during a traffic stop near his home in Covington, Georgia. The traffic stop was a collaboration among the following agencies:
- U.S. Marshal’s Regional Fugitive Task Force - Florida and Georgia
- Georgia State Patrol
- Newton County Sheriff’s Office
- Clayton County Sheriff’s Office
Ziegler waived extradition and was transported from the Newton County Detention Center to the Pre-Trial Detention Facility in Jacksonville on Thursday, September 18.
He is now being held at the Duval County Jail without bond. His next court appearance is set for Tuesday, October 14 at 9 a.m.
Action News Jax reached out to both Chad Heins and Jeremy Heins for comment on the development in the case, but we have not yet received a response.
“While Ziegler cut Tina’s life short, her legacy lives on. Her family in Wisconsin has established a scholarship in her honor,” the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office wrote in a social media post announcing Ziegler’s arrest.
The Tina Livernash Memorial Scholarship helps low-income students attend the Catholic school Tina once attended.
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