Jun 10, 2008 6:21 pm US/Central
New DNA Evidence Could Solve 24-Year-Old Murder
Repeat Sexual Offender Faces Murder Charges And May Be Linked to More Than One Victim
CROWN POINT, Ind. (CBS) ―
After more than two decades, a cold case may be solved through DNA, giving the family of murder victim Linda Bennitt some long overdue closure.
It's been 24 years since Bennitt was brutally murdered, but just last year, a retired police officer reopened the case. New technology may have helped him solve it.
CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones reports that a retired Lake County Sheriff's Officer mentioned this case to his son who is currently on the force, and the case was reopened. The case took a turn when investigators began searching the files of other rapes at that time, and they were able to link the murder suspect to more crime - all through DNA testing.
"When Linda died, I got this pain over here that stayed with me at least two years," said Joan King, Bennitt's mother. "And it comes back on Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving."
Her 22-year-old daughter's murder was unsolved for more than two decades until the Lake County Sheriff's Department reopened the case last year.
Now, 47-year-old Mark Erler, who is already being held in a hospital for sexually violent predators in California, faces murder charges.
Police believe Erler targeted Bennitt back in 1984. She left work at a department store in Merrillville, and was abducted from her apartment near 52nd and Harrison.
Bennitt's body was found three miles away at a school in Gary. Her throat was slashed.
"And although justice has been delayed, Lord willing, it won't be denied," said Roy Dominguez of the Lake County Sheriff's Department.
Detectives said a Gary officer retrieved the evidence from storage, and a fingerprint taken from Bennitt's windowsill was run through a national database. Erler appeared as a match, according to police.
A sample of Erler's DNA was also found to be consistent with a sample from Bennitt's body.
And it turns out Erler may have had another victim.
Cynthia Morris lived right across the hall from Bennitt and reported being raped there six months earlier.
"Oh. It was horrible. He's a monster," Morris said.
A sample from Morris's rape kit was analyzed, and police say Erler cannot be ruled out as the suspect in that case either.
"Now that I know that he's put away and hopefully he'll never see the light of day, it gives me some solace," Morris said.
Erler told police he moved to California in 1986. That same year, he was convicted for rape, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Police said they are still looking for a witness, Bennitt's coworker Julie McCracken, who was the last person to report seeing Bennitt alive.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
