A 78-year-old man has been charged within the homicide of a College of Texas Austin nursing pupil who was discovered fatally shot in an alley 40 years in the past, a day after she enrolled within the faculty, Austin Police introduced Friday.
Deck Brewer Jr., 78, who’s already serving time in Massachusetts for an unrelated crime, is now accused of killing 25-year-old Susan Leigh Wolfe after fashionable forensics matched his DNA with that discovered on the sufferer, authorities stated.
Wolfe was kidnapped a block away from her residence whereas strolling to a pal’s home at round 10 p.m. on Jan. 9, 1980, police stated. She had enrolled on the College of Texas Austin College of Nursing that very same day.
A witness to the kidnapping informed detectives they noticed an individual exiting a 1970 Dodge Polara and inserting a coat over Wolfe’s head earlier than forcing her into the automobile, police acknowledged. Wolfe’s physique was discovered the following morning in Austin.
The medical expert discovered proof that Wolfe had been strangled, however decided she died from a single gunshot wound to the pinnacle, in line with police. A pathologist additionally discovered proof that the sufferer was sexually assaulted by one of many suspects.
All through the investigation, detectives discovered 40 individuals of curiosity and interviewed no less than six suspects, a few of whom lived throughout the nation.
Wolfe’s case remained chilly till final yr, when detectives submitted proof associated to her sexual assault to the state’s crime lab. Austin police acquired a notification from the lab in March that the DNA they equipped probably matched Brewer’s.
Brewer informed detectives in July that he had been in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, across the time of Wolfe’s killing, police stated.
It’s unclear what crime Brewer is serving time for in Massachusetts. Nonetheless, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Division of Corrections informed JHB in an electronic mail that he’s in custody on the Massachusetts Therapy Heart, a separate facility that homes male inmates recognized as intercourse offenders.
Austin Police say they’re persevering with to research Wolfe’s case and following results in determine one other suspect, the passenger within the automobile on the time of the kidnapping.