Allison Feldman's father never considered his daughter's murder a cold case.
"She always treated everybody else first and then worried about herself," Harley Feldman said. "It's why she had great friends and she treated everybody the same."
But on that fateful evening on Feb. 18, 2015, the Feldman's lives would be changed forever. Their selfless daughter was found brutally murdered inside her Scottsdale home. And as the days, months and years passed since their daughter's death, the Feldmans would travel to the Valley from Minnesota once a month to keep her legacy alive and find her murderer, Harley previously told 12 News.
But a potential answer to who killed Allison remained unknown until Tuesday.
Using a familial DNA test on an "unknown brown substance" found on the dining room floor at the scene of Allison's murder, Scottsdale police, working with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, found a match.
The DNA was found to belong to a close relative of a man already in the Arizona corrections system for child molestation. This led police to 42-year-old Ian L. Mitcham, his brother being that DNA link.
While searching records, police discovered Mitcham had a prior arrest for DUI in January of 2015. A portion of his blood drawn during his arrest was still in evidence. It matched the DNA found in the brown substance.
Mitcham's DNA also matched other samples taken from the crime scene, including a sample mixed with Allison's DNA on a broken beer bottle, according to court documents.
He was arrested in Phoenix Tuesday.
DPS Director Frank Milstead said it's the first arrest in Arizona's history as a result of the familial DNA testing.
A Scottsdale PD spokesperson said, “If the brother was not in jail, we would not have made this match."
Harley Feldman said he had "really mixed emotions."
"The fact that he was caught is good. The fact that we have to go through this is bad," he said. "I knew the call was going to come someday but when it actually comes, it's like the call we got the night that she was murdered. It's just one of those that you don't expect."
Court documents show Mitcham told police he struggled with an alcohol problem in the months surrounding the murder, but "repeatedly" denied ever being inside Allison's house and did not know how his DNA could've been found there.
Harley Feldman said he has "no idea" who Mitcham was.
"What I can't understand is why he would walk into somebody's house and do this to our daughter. It's just mind blowing that someone could actually think about doing that," Feldman said. "I just hope he gets put away forever. He just doesn't deserve to be a human being for doing something like this."
When asked if knowing Allison's alleged killer was in custody made the healing process any easier, Harley said they never stop missing her.
"We've had to live with this for three years now and so we've got to the point where we just miss her a lot," Feldman said. "That never goes away."
Mitcham was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree burglary. On Wednesday, his cash-only bail was set at $5 million.
Harley said although the trial will take a toll on him and the family, he's confident jurors will find his daughter's suspected killer guilty.