A person has been arrested in a girl’s 1979 chilly case homicide after investigators used genetic family tree to zero in on his identification, police in Maryland introduced.
On March 3, 1979, the physique of 31-year-old secretary Kathryn Donohue was found in a car parking zone in Glenarden, Maryland, the Prince George’s County Police Division mentioned.
The Arlington, Virginia, resident was overwhelmed, raped and killed in a “brutal homicide,” Invoice DelBagno, particular agent accountable for the FBI’s Baltimore Area Workplace, mentioned throughout a information convention on Tuesday.
No suspects had been recognized and the case went unsolved for many years, leaving Donohue’s household ready for solutions, authorities mentioned.
An undated photograph of 31-year-old Kathryn Donohue, who was killed in 1979.
Prince George’s County Police Division
However police mentioned DNA was left on her physique.
In 2024, police mentioned they recognized a relative of the suspect by genetic family tree, an investigative device during which the unknown DNA from the crime scene is recognized by evaluating it to members of the family who voluntarily submit DNA samples to a database.
“Further investigation finally led” police to establish the suspect as Rodger Zodas Brown, who lived in Prince George’s County on the time of the homicide, police mentioned.
Brown, now 82, was arrested final week at his dwelling in Pinehurst, North Carolina, police mentioned. He was “solemn,” “chilly” and confirmed “no response” when he was arrested, police mentioned.
An undated photograph of Rodger Zodas Brown, who has been arrested for the 1979 homicide of Kathryn Donohue.
Prince George’s County Police Division
There is no obvious connection between Donohue and Brown, police mentioned.
Brown was charged with first-degree homicide, rape and associated fees. He is in custody in North Carolina awaiting extradition to Maryland, police mentioned. It wasn’t instantly clear if Brown had an legal professional who may converse on his behalf.
In a press release launched by police, Donohue’s household thanked the investigators, saying their “relentless pursuit of the reality” “has lastly given us a way of closure that we by no means thought attainable in spite of everything this time.”
“This case serves as a reminder that we’ll by no means quit in search of the reality regardless of how a lot time has handed,” Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz mentioned.
The investigation stays lively. Police requested anybody with info to name the division at 301-516-2512.
