The killing of an 18-year-old Ohio woman was solved with DNA technology after 43 years

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Updated 4:45 PM CST, December 31, 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who was shot dead last month as authorities attempted to serve him an indictment on federal gun charges has been identified as the killer of an 18-year-old Ohio woman in a case that had gone unsolved for 43 years, police announced Monday.

Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said the cold case of Debra Lee Miller, a local waitress beaten to death with an oven grate in her apartment on April 29, 1981, was reopened in 2021 to account for advances in DNA technology and forensic investigative techniques.

“They examined the case as if it had happened yesterday, through an entirely new lens,” Bammann said at a news conference. “Their findings were staggering.”

The chief said a “firm DNA profile” of James Vanest, at the time Miller’s 26-year-old upstairs neighbor, emerged from evidence left from the room. Vanest had been questioned but never identified as a suspect during the initial investigation, which became mired in allegations of potential police misconduct.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/cold-case-killing-solved-mansfield-ohio-117aa486e09bf3990bf557907157c254

[JohnnyRingo]

1. I can see how the investigation got sidetracked.

Considering her involvement with police, they probably figured it was a member of the force that killed her. Certainly there was plenty of motives and by the time investigators sifted through the list of suspects the evidence was cold.

"The report noted that Miller wrote in her diary that she was sexually involved with several Mansfield police officers."

Most waitresses just slip the cops a free donut, but she would sass like Flo: "Kiss mah tits!" (couldn't pass that one up)
Seriously, I wonder if the upstairs neighbor may have been in her circle of relations or upset that he was rebuked.