Indiana State Police, FBI identify "I-65 Killer" as Harry Edward Greenwell
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (CBS) -- Indiana State Police and the FBI have identified a serial killer known as the "I-65 Killer," who killed three women in the late 1980s, as Harry Edward Greenwell, a man with a lengthy criminal record who died in 2013.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield said DNA and genealogical evidence used to identify Greenwell as the I-65 Killer were 99.9999% positive.
Greenwell was born in December 1944 and died in January 2013, and had an extensive criminal history, including twice escaping from jail, and was known to travel through the Midwest, according to Fifield.
The I-65 Killer raped and killed three women at who worked hotels in Indiana and Kentucky in 1987 and 1989, and sexually assaulted a fourth woman in 1990, police said.
"It's amazing what happens over the course of generations. There's detectives in this very room that have been involved in this in some form or another literally for generations, and they're owed a debt of gratitude that we can never possibly repay," Indiana State Police Supt. Doug Carter said at a press conference announcing the identification of the I-65 Killer.
Photos of Greenwell matched a sketch of the suspect created from the sole surviving victim's description of her attacker.
The killings linked to Greenwell began on Feb. 21, 1987, with the rape and murder of 41-year-old Vicki Heath, who was killed while working the night shift at a Super 8 motel along I-65 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, according to Fifield.
Two years later, two more hotel workers were killed on the same day under similar circumstances on March 3, 1989.
Margaret "Peggy" Gill, 24, was raped and murdered at a Days Inn in Merrillville, Indiana, while working the night shift. Her body was found in an unoccupied wing of the Days Inn in Merrillville, Indiana, where she worked as a clerk.
As CBS 2's Mike Kirsch reported at the time, police said Gill was found stripped naked down to her shoes and socks, with a single gunshot wound to the back of her head.
Hours later, 34-year-old Jeanne Gilbert was raped and murdered while working at a Days Inn in Remington, Indiana. Her body was dumped in a ditch near Rensselaer after being abducted at the hotel 18 miles to the north.
Then, on Jan. 2, 1990, a clerk at the Days Inn in Columbus, Indiana, was attacked in a similar manner to the previous three victims, but was able to escape her attacker and provide police with a description of the suspect.
"She is the only known victim to have survived the vicious and brutal attacks of this killer," Fifield said.
Over the years, the Indiana State Police lab matched ballistic evidence linking Gill's and Gilbert's murders; and also matched DNA evidence linking Heath's and Gilbert's murders to the Columbus case.
Recently, Indiana State Police requested the help of the FBI, which led to the DNA and genealogy evidence that identified Greenwell as the killer.
FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert Stapleton said, while Greenwell has died and can't be prosecuted for the murders, he hopes identifying the I-65 Killer brings his victims' families some sense of closure.
"We know that, despite the years that have passed since these horrible events, that you have never forgotten the loss of your loved ones, and that this heinous crime is something that all of you have had to live with daily for all of these years," he said. "This announcement can't take away the pain that you've felt at this loss, but what we hope is that through today's information and revelation, this provides some answers that may aid you in your healing process."
It's been so long since Gill's murder, the building at 83rd and Louisiana isn't even a Days Inn anymore.
Merrillville assistant police chief Kosta Nuses was just 12 years-old when Gill was killed, but he said his department has always been aware and working on this case.
"It was one of those cases that, just, we didn't put it away. It remained open. We tried to work it any time anybody got anything, and they would follow up on it. But you've got a big difference from 1989 to now, especially with technology and other resources that are available to law enforcement. So it is a little different," he said.
Gilbert's daughter, Kim Gilbert Wright, said she still remembers the last words her mother spoke to her.
"'I love you, I'll see you tomorrow,'" she recalled. "I didn't see her that tomorrow, but I see her every day."
Wright said her family is "extremely grateful" to the law enforcement officials "who have committed to keeping these unsolved cases at the forefront for over 33 years, and longer, and who have worked tirelessly to bring these cases to resolution for all who have suffered from these crimes."
"We'll never know what the killer was thinking. We'll never learn the whys of any of his actions, and that's just where we sit today. Closure will also take on its own different and unique face for all of us," she said.
Authorities also suspect there have been other murders, rapes, robberies, or assaults along I-65 over the years that have not yet been linked to Greenwell. They will be taking another look at similar crimes in Minnesota, Kentucky, and Illinois.