Fugitive killed in Ohio shootout is responsible for 1981 slaying of woman, 18, authorities say
A fugitive killed in a shootout with authorities in Ohio last month was identified Monday as the suspect in the decades-old unsolved murder of an 18-year-old woman.
A fugitive killed in a shootout with authorities in Ohio last month was identified Monday as the suspect in the decades-old unsolved murder of an 18-year-old woman.
New DNA evidence established proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that James Vanest, 68, was responsible for the April 29, 1981 murder of Debra Miller, 18, the Mansfield Police Department said in a news release.
Miller, a waitress, was fatally beaten with an oven grate in her apartment, the Associated Press reported.
Vanest, who lived in the unit above Miller, was questioned at the time of the killing but never considered a suspect, the department said.
The building where Debra Miller lived in Mansfield, Ohio, when she was murdered in 1981.Mansfield Police Dept. In 2021, the department reopened the case and conducted an analysis using advanced DNA techniques that linked genetic material found on "numerous" pieces of evidence to Vanest, the department said.
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