A suspect has finally been identified and arrested in the mysterious 1979 cold case rape and murder of a Maryland woman.
Kathryn Donohue, 31, was found beaten, raped and killed in a parking lot on March 3, 1979.
The case went unsolved for decades and no suspects were identified until police got a DNA hit in late 2024.
Genetic genealogy DNA analysis led the FBI and the Prince George’s County Police Department to identify a relative of their suspect.
Using the new DNA evidence, police matched 82-year-old Rodger Zodas Brown of Pinehurst, North Carolina to the DNA left at the crime.
He was arrested at his North Carolina home last week, with the help of the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and FBI Charlotte Field Office, police said.
They took a plastic fork from the trash can outside his home and tested the DNA, then arrested him after it matched a sample taken from Donahue’s slip, according to The Washington Post.
‘This case serves as a reminder that we will never give up seeking the truth no matter how much time has passed,’ Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said.