DNA match leads to arrest over woman's 25-year-old killing

Twenty five years after the brutal death of a US woman authorities have arrested a suspect using DNA analysis.

School teacher Christy Mirack, 25, was raped before being beaten to death in December 1992 in her Pennsylvania home.

Her death shocked her local community and remained unsolved for decades.

But on Monday, police arrested Raymond Rowe, 49, a popular local DJ, over the crime.

It was triggered after authorities found DNA from the crime scene was linked to Rowe.

In 1992 forensic experts took a DNA sample from the victim’s body and the carpet beneath it which included fluids from the alleged attacker.

Investigators were unable to find a match but gained a breakthrough when the DNA corresponded with a sample from a relative of Rowe.

They had uploaded a DNA sample to geneology website GEDmatch – the same website linked to the Golden State Killer’s arrest in the US.

But to gain an arrest further evidence was required.

An undercover police operation at an elementary school where Rowe was performing as ‘DJ Freez’ produced a water bottle and gum he had used.

Police later established an alleged genetic match.

Rowe was arrested at his home Monday and charged with criminal homicide.

“We never let this case go,” but investigators had run out of suspects, said Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman.

“This has not been easy. But one of the reasons we’ve stuck with it and never forgotten it is it’s so disturbing.”

With AP