Posted on 01/29/2017 8:43:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators on Monday will announce that they have solved the 1976 slaying of Karen Klaas, a Hermosa Beach mother of two and the ex-wife of singer Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers.
The case was solved through the use of “familial DNA,” which identified the killer, the department said in a statement Friday.
Detectives, forensic and law enforcement officers will hold a news conference on Monday, the 41st anniversary of the crime.
Klaas, 32, was found in her Hermosa Beach home on Jan. 30, 1976. She had been sexually assaulted, choked and left unconscious. In a coma, she died Feb. 4, 1976.
For years, detectives tried to identify a thick-haired, bearded man who was seen exiting Klaas’ front door when neighbors went to check on her. In 1976, detectives created a plaster model of the head and published it on a “Wanted for murder” flier.
The man was white, about 28 years old, 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a medium build, brown hair and beard. His hair and beard were “well-cared for,” and his complexion was pale.
Klaas, who had two children, was attacked shortly after returning home from taking her youngest child to the McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach.
Klaas’ assailant ransacked the house, which showed signs of a struggle. Crutches that Klaas had used after breaking her leg were on the floor.
Medley stayed at her side in the hospital until she died.
“Karen was very loved and respected, and it was a horror what happened to her,” Medley told the Orange County Register in 2000. “She has a lot of friends who would like to see this resolved.”
Use of familial DNA is a controversial technique that searches databases for a partial match when a regular DNA search fails to find a match. A familial DNA search turns up a partial match, finding a relative of a suspect.
Hard to say. The Amish all look alike.
WHO did it??? Geesh, what a PATHETIC writer....tell us the NAME, idiot!
Save for “familial DNA.”
Atsy
They’re holding a press conference. Why they just can’t release the information in the press release is beyond me.
Hard to camera hog in a press release.
FWIW, if this puts the fear of Gid, or at least LE, into perps, by all means hold the presser. If it’s just to back pat and self-congratulate, there’s a dead woman and a family that’s been through hell to keep in mind.
Fear of God, that is...
The artical claims the crime was solved but I see no mention of the perp in the case.
“In January 2016, Bill Medley announced he would revive the Righteous Brothers for the first time since 2003, partnering with new singer Bucky Heard, who replaced the late Bobby Hatfield.”
In January 1976, his first wife Karen was raped and murdered by a stranger, and Medley decided to take time off from his music career to look after his 10-year-old son Darrin. The murderer was never caught and Medley employed a private investigator in an effort to track down the killer. As of 2014, the investigator was still hired by Medley.[38] On 27 January, 2017, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that investigators used a controversial DNA testing method to solve the decades-old murder. The sheriff’s department said that the case “was solved through the use of familial DNA, which identified the killer,” but provided no other details. A sheriff’s spokeswoman would not say whether investigators had formally made an arrest in the case and declined to identify the suspect. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, District Attorney Jackie Lacey and other officials are expected to release additional information at a news conference 30 January, 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Medley
“I’ve heard of making plaster casts of footprints - but of heads?!”
Google “plaster caster.” You’ll be even more surprised.
Damn those Amish!
The police aren’t releasing the name until today.
Every thing has to be so dramatic in Kali. Maybe one of the upper management types is writing a book, or script for a made-for-tv docudrama, and wants to “leave them wanting more”?
I looked up this case, and there was an effort to link it to sexual abuse allegations at her son's preschool, and a trail of suicides, "accidents", and other deaths as part of a cover-up.
FWIW, this was about the time all those charlatans were running around, collecting fees for "recovered" memories of children about sexual abuse.
Any way, was Klaas the victim of a hit man because she was making noise? Her husband Gerald, "drove" off a cliff in Oregon a few years later after indictments were handed down about the child abuse. Accident, regret about not protecting his stepson, or was he a potential loose end?
DNA yields long-awaited answers in 1976 slaying of Righteous Brothers singer's ex
DNA yields long-awaited answers in 1976 slaying of Righteous Brothers singer's ex
Thank you for the ping to the rest of the story. Much appreciated.
It’s good to know this can be put to rest. The impression I get is probably a child of this man, Kenneth Eugene Troyer, is or was in prison at some time where his/her DNA was taken. This led to the saved sample of DNA from the murder which was a conclusive match.
From the story: “Troyer, who had been suspected of committing several other sexual assaults in California, was shot and killed by police after escaping from a California prison in 1982, McDonnell said. As investigators began to hone in on him as a possible suspect last year, they were able to obtain a sample of his DNA that was held in the Orange County coroner’s office and conclusively link him to Klaas’ slaying, Katz said.”
There’s gotta be another joke in here....
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