Cold Case Solved After 50 Years : Technology & Crime
Great news! A 50-year-old cold case in Quebec, Canada has finally been solved thanks to DNA evidence. According to Canadian police, the murder of a 16-year-old girl named Sharron Prior has been linked to a man who passed away and was buried over 800 miles away in West Virginia, USA. Sharron was abducted on March 29, 1975, in the Pointe St-Charles area of Montreal, and her body was discovered four days later in Longueuil, which is in Quebec province across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.
The Unsolved Homicide Unit of the Longueuil Police Major Crime Division, along with other experts, used a fascinating technique called genetic genealogy to establish a DNA connection between the evidence found at the crime scene and an American family living in West Virginia. Through their investigation, they found out that a member of that family, named Franklin Romine, was actually living in Montreal at the time of the murder. Unfortunately, Romine passed away in 1982, and his remains were buried in a cemetery in Putnam County, West Virginia.
The dedicated investigators from the Longueuil Police obtained a warrant from local authorities and, on May 2, they exhumed Franklin Romine's body from the cemetery. They carefully collected DNA samples from his remains and compared them to the DNA found at the crime scene. The results were astounding! The biological tests proved without a doubt that Franklin Romine, born on April 2, 1946, was the killer that the police had been desperately trying to identify for almost five decades.
The authorities wasted no time in informing Sharron Prior's family, including her mother, Yvonne, about the breakthrough in a private and emotional meeting. While it's a bittersweet moment for them, as the case can finally be closed, no charges will be filed since Franklin Romine is no longer alive. Nonetheless, the resolution of this case showcases the incredible power of DNA technology and genetic genealogy in solving long-standing mysteries. It also brings hope that other unsolved cases may find similar closure in the future.