Man sentenced to life for 1999 New Jersey murder

A man has received a life sentence for the murder of a New Jersey high school student, Nancy Noga, who was killed in 1999. Noga was just 17 years old when her body was discovered behind a strip mall in Sayreville on January 12, 1999. For over two decades, the case remained unsolved until Bruce A. Cymanski, 52, was arrested in 2021. Cymanski was convicted of multiple charges, including murder and aggravated sexual assault, after a two-week trial last year. On Monday, he was sentenced to life in prison, with an additional 30 years before he can be eligible for parole, as well as consecutive sentences totaling 35 years for related offenses. Noga had been missing for several days before her body was found, lying face down in the snow. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma. At the time of her disappearance, she was a senior at Sayreville War Memorial High School and had intended to join the U.S. Air Force after graduation. Detectives initially questioned around 500 individuals while investigating Noga's disappearance. Cymanski was eventually apprehended in a foot chase by detectives after being identified through forensic genealogy, a method that uses DNA matches to build family trees. This technique gained prominence after its use in the Golden State Killer case in California.