1975 Murder of 16-Year-Old Girl Solved by New DNA Link to Man in West Virginia

Sharron Prior.Photo:Longueuil Police/Facebook

Longueuil Police/Facebook

The murder of 16-year-old Sharron Prior has been solved nearly 50 years after her death.

After lying open for more than four decades, investigators finally had a breakthrough when they linked DNA found at the 1975 crime scene to a family living in West Virginia. When they discovered a member of the American family was living in Montreal at the time of the murder, but had since died, they obtained a warrant to exhume his body.

After conducting a DNA test on the remains, investigators confirmed that Franklin Romine, who died in 1982, had abducted and killed Prior seven years before his death. At the time of the incident, he was 29 years old.

Since Romine is dead, no charges will be called against him and the case has now been closed.

The outlet reported that Prior disappeared while on her way to meet friends at a pizza parlour. When her body was found four days later, it was beaten and naked.

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“We will always be your mom, your little brother and sisters who sat there at that window that Easter weekend hoping to see you walking on home,” Prior’s other sister, Moreen, said at the news conference, reportedCBC News.

“You may never have come back to our house on Congregation Street that weekend. But you have never left our hearts and you never will. We love you, Sharron. May you now truly rest in peace.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com