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DNA Nails 82-Year-Old For Brutal 1979 Rape, Murder Of Virginia Woman In Maryland
After more than 45 years, the family of a Virginia woman who was raped and murdered in 1979 is finally getting answers after DNA evidence led to the arrest of an 82-year-old suspect, officials announced.
Rodger Zodas Brown, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, has been charged with first-degree murder, rape, and other related offenses in connection with the brutal killing of 31-year-old Kathryn Donohue, of Arlington, according to the Prince George’s County Police Department.
For decades, the case remained cold—until now.
On March 3, 1979, a passerby found Donohue’s body in a parking lot in the 84…
Arrest Made In 2017 Disappearance, Murder Of Virginia Mother, Infant: 'Long Time Coming'
After nearly eight years of unanswered questions, authorities in Virginia have made an arrest in the 2017 cold case murder of a young mother and her infant daughter, officials announced.
Carlos A. Johnson Jr., 46, of Newport News, was taken into custody around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, in connection with the deaths of 34-year-old Keir Johnson and her 8-month-old daughter, Chloe Johnson, according to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
The mother and child were last seen on April 30, 2017.
God bring them home!...It's been way too long!!! Why?!? @crimeonlinenews @NancyGrac…
Cold Case Murder Suspect Back In Virginia
A 51-year-old New York man suspect in a 1994 murder case is back in Virginia.
Stephen Smerk, of Niskayuna, NY, was extradited to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
He is facing second-degree murder in the Nov. 20, 1994 death of 37-year-old Robin Lawrence, who was found dead in a Springfield, VA home, Fairfax County police said.
Smerk is believed to have stabbed Lawrence inside of her Reseca Lane home, when he was 22 years old, authorities said.
In 1994, a DNA profile was developed; however, at the time there was no match in any system for …
Man Wanted For Sexual Assaults In Maryland, DC Charged After Nine Years: DOJ
A man with a checkered criminal past has been charged with sexual assault in Washington, DC and Maryland, federal authorities announced.
District resident Dawayne Joseph Spriggs, 37, who also calls Prince George's County home in Maryland, was arraigned on a 2014 cold case involving a sexual assault involving a stranger at a DC Metro station in 2014.
According to court documents, on July 6, 2014, Spriggs approached a stranger near the Minnesota Avenue Metro station at approximately 1 a.m., following her before physically and sexually assaulting her in an alley.
Once the assault was over, th…
Cold CASE: NY Man Confesses To Grisly 1994 Virginia Murder, Police Say
A 51-year-old New York man has been arrested in a Virginia homicide, cracking a 29-year cold case, authorities announced.
Stephen Smerk, of Niskayuna, NY, is facing second-degree murder in the Nov. 20, 1994 death of 37-year-old Robin Lawrence, who was found dead in a Springfield, VA home, Fairfax County police said.
Smerk is believed to have stabbed Lawrence inside of her Reseca Lane home, when he was 22 years old, authorities said.
In 1994, a DNA profile was developed; however, at the time there was no match in any system for the recovered DNA.
In the years that followed, detec…
Dad Shook Infant Son To Death, Officials In Virginia Find 39 Years Later
William Faulkner famously once said “the past is never dead. It’s not even past,” and that proved to be true in Prince William County, where police solved a 37-year cold case involving an infant this week.
Samuel Harry Dicola, 58, who has no fixed address, has been charged with murder i connection to the death of his infant son in their former family home in the 9600 block of Lafayette Avenue in Manassas in 1984.
Then, the initial investigation determined that on Nov. 29, 1984, the victim, a 3-month-old boy, was in the care of Dicola, who was 20 at the time, at their Manassas home when, at …
New Technology Helps Police In Virginia Close 34-Year-Old Sexual Assault Cold Case
New technology helped authorities solve a 34-year-old sexual assault cold case in Virginia.
George Thomas Jr., 61, of Arlington, was arrested Monday, Nov. 21 for his role in the rape, sodomy, and abduction of a 22-year-old woman on Aug. 24, 1988, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Police said that fingerprints prints taken from the victim's vehicle at the time were recently confirmed to be a match to Thomas Jr. and his late brother, Gregory Allen Thomas, of Arlington.
A department fingerprint examiner linked the second set of fingerprints to new and unrelated arr…
Suspect In Custody For 30-Year Cold Case Murder Of Virginia Teen Found In Maryland
Thirty years after a Virginia teen was brutally murdered in Maryland, police have identified and arrested a suspect in the cold case.
Ron Wright, 47, of Wimauma, Florida, has been charged by Metropolitan Police investigators in DC for the 1992 murder of Falls Church, Virginia resident Ricardo Burbano, authorities announced on Thursday, Oct. 20.
On Tuesday, March 31, 1992, officers from the Prince George's County Police Department in Maryland found Burbano unconscious in the back of a building in Hyattsville, where he was pronounced dead.
The teen’s remains were transported to the Office o…
