40 years after the murder of a woman from Massachusetts, a suspect was arrested because of DNA evidence. The woman, Eileen Ferro, was 21 years old when she was stabbed to death in her home. A DNA match turned this cold case into an active one. The suspect who was arrested is a 69 year old man who was a furniture deliveryman who had a job at her home the day before she was killed. Two events led to his arrest: the evidence was resubmitted by police for DNA testing, and Guthrie violated parole for a crime he committed which meant he had to submit a DNA sample. These well-timed events led to the discovery that the DNA matched. He is a registered sex offender, and was convicted of rape during the same year that Eileen Ferro was killed.
It's amazing that DNA can find a criminal even after 40 years. If police can get him to confess, then the case would finally be closed. Back then, DNA technology was not used to solve crimes, and it was not really used to solve crimes until the 1980s. I don't really believe in fate and all of that, but when two things happen and end up being linked like this, it makes me wonder if there might really be such a thing. The article did not mention if Eileen had any living relatives, so if there aren't any, then solving the case wouldn't really give them any peace. But I think it's important to catch a criminal even after that much time has passed, especially if they are a murderer. This man seems like a really terrible person regardless of whether he was involved. But DNA doesn't lie. He wasn't even considered a suspect originally, and this really shows how far technology has come since then. Hopefully he will be convicted so that the case will finally be closed, and also that he will be unable to hurt anyone else.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/justice/massachusetts-cold-case-murder/index.html?hpt=us_c2
It's so cool that new technology can help reactivate a case from so long ago. I hope that justice is served to the man who committed this crime.
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