DNA Helps Solve Decades-Old Slaying Of Righteous Brothers Singer's Ex-Wife
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Authorities say familial DNA was used to solve the 1976 killing of the ex-wife of The Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Monday that investigators blame Kenneth Eugene Troyer for the slaying. Karen Klaas was strangled with her pantyhose in her home.
Investigators say they collected a DNA sample from the coroner and matched it to forensic evidence from the crime scene.
McDonnell says investigators ran a forensic sample collected at the crime scene through a state database and found a familial match to identify a close male relative of Troyer's.
Police in California killed Troyer in 1982. Authorities say he was suspected of several other sexual assaults.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Klaas, 32, dropped off her 4-year-old child by her new husband at day care on Jan. 30, 1976, and went to her home in Hermosa Beach.
Neighbors became concerned when they could not contact her, and notified authorities.
Klaas was found dead inside her home. She had been strangled, beaten and raped.
A man was seen leaving her home around the time of her murder, but the killer was never found.
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