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Howard Jackson Bradberry, 64, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the killing of Laney Lee McGadney, 28 in 1982, say Howard County officials.
DNA evidence linked Bradberry to the crime in 2021, prompting his arrest, they said.
On March 29, 1982, McGadney was leaving her Columbia apartment to walk to the grocery store when she was witnessed being abducted on Oakland Mills Road, according to officials.
McGadney never made it to the Owen Brown Village Center store, they said, with her body being found hours later in a vacant lot now known as Water Lily Way.
Detectives collected evidence from the scene and revealed that McGadney had been raped and stabbed to death, police said. Her killer was unable to be identified and the case went cold.
In 2021, Howard County investigators revisited the case and tried to identify new leads through DNA evidence, which led investigators to Bradberry.
Bradberry was arrested at his home on May 25, 2021, and charged with first and second-degree murder, first and second-degree rape, and kidnapping.
“For four decades, no one was held responsible for the brutal and senseless killing of a young woman whose life was cut short by the violent actions of the defendant. We hope that today’s guilty plea provides some closure to the McGadney family who has had to wait an inordinate amount of time for justice for their loved one", said State's Attorney Rich Gibson.
A sentencing for Bradberry is scheduled for Dec. 1, 2022, where he faces up to 25 years of active incarceration.
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