DNA solves Atlanta schoolgirl's cold case murder and rape
A cold case murder has been solved 26 years after a 14-year-old girl was raped and killed while on her way to school, Atlanta police announced today.
Detectives used DNA testing and genealogy tools to finally identify a suspect, who is now dead, police said at a news conference.
In 1995, Nacole Smith was on her way to school when she cut through some woods on the city's southwest side and was beaten, raped and shot, police said.
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Nacole Smith's family have spent 26 years wondering what happened to the 14-year-old in the moments leading up to her gruesome death. City of Atlanta PD
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"I'll live with this pain for the rest of my life," Nacole's mother, Acqunellia Smith said.
"Just taking one day at a time."
In 2002, former Atlanta police Detective Vince Velazquez dug into the case and got a break in 2004, when evidence from an attack on a young girl in nearby East Point, Georgia, matched evidence in the Atlanta killing.
But it took police years to identify a suspect.
Police worked to publicise the case, which got attention from the TV show "America's Most Wanted," Mr Velazquez recalled today.
When Mr Velazquez retired from the police department in 2017, Detective Scott Demeester took over much of the work.
Using genealogy records, Detective Demeester worked to develop a person of interest and obtained a sample of his DNA.
Shortly after Christmas, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's forensic lab was able to match the suspect's DNA to evidence in the case.
Nacole Smith took a shortcut through the woods when she headed back home after she forgot something while walking to school with her sister. Atlanta Alive (Archive)
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The man police believe killed the teenager died in August 2021 after being in hospice care with liver and kidney failure, police said.
They did not name the suspect during today's news conference, saying they wanted the focus to be on the girl and her family.
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