A tragic murder case from 1977 in the state of Ohio, USA, has been solved nearly half a century later. The police managed to solve the previously unresolved crime with the help of fingerprints found on a cigarette box and DNA analysis, reports "Zamon.uz".
In 1977, 24-year-old Jeanette Ralston was found dead, having been sexually assaulted and strangled. Her body was discovered in the back seat of a car near a bar. Witnesses reported that the victim had left the bar with an unknown man.
According to Deputy Prosecutor of Santa Clara County, Rob Baker, investigators initially could not identify whom the fingerprints found on a cigarette box at the crime scene belonged to using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database. However, after algorithms were updated in 2023, the prints were identified as belonging to 69-year-old Willie Eugene Sims.
Moreover, Sims' DNA matched the biological traces found under Ralston's fingernails and the DNA on her strangled dress.
Sims is expected to appear in court on Thursday. He could face up to 25 years in prison.
