A man who brutally raped and strangled an 89-year-old former teacher and nurse before killing her has been identified by the police 28 years after the murder.
The murder of Lillian DeCloe after she was beaten and sexually assaulted in her home on April 19, 1994, had stumped detectives for more than two decades.
But police then made a breakthrough like in an “episode of CSI” and cracked it after a cold case review was launched three years ago.
They found out her killer was Johnny Mack Brown, a former marine who served in the Vietnam War. However, he died 12 years ago.
Lillian was found dead in her home in Pompano Beach, Florida, US.
Detective Dave Towsley of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said she “fought for her life” when “violence and anger erupted into her quiet, peaceful home.”
The victim’s niece June Nicholas, who looked after her in her old age, arrived at the house and found her body lying on the floor.
The police said the house had been ransacked, however there wasn’t “a single clue or witness” and the case went cold.
Towsley said their crime lab started carrying out DNA tests in 2004 and semen was found on Lillian's nightgown. However, there was no match on the law enforcement database at the time.
The Cold Case Unit reopened the case in 2019 and started looking into familial DNA.
A close relative of the killer who would be eventually identified was found.
He was an ex-prisoner who had served time in a Florida prison.
The ex-convict was determined to be the son of Johnny Mack Brown, a former marine who served in the Vietnam War and reportedly suffered from PTSD and drug addiction.
Brown died of natural causes in 2010.
The authorities exhumed the Vietnam veteran’s remains in August this year and tests confirmed that his DNA was a match for the semen found on DeCloe's nightgown.
His address was listed as just around the corner from the victim’s home in 1992, however it is unclear if he was still living there when the crime took place two years later, Towsley said.
The police stated: “Like an episode of ‘CSI’, a series of breakthroughs led to Lillian’s killer, and the first came from DNA evidence found in Lillian’s nightgown.”
The police added that the former Marine Brown was never on their radar during the investigation and no other crimes have been linked to him.
Towsley said the attack appeared to be a robbery gone wrong.
He said: “When he was going through tough times and he was homeless and he had a drug addiction, it suggested that he broke into the house he may or may not know she was there alone.
“But she was 89, she lived alone, and it looked like all the drawers had been opened and things had gone through the house, like a burglary gone wrong.
“She must have confronted him, and it went on from there.”
The sheriff’s office said the case is now “considered resolved and exceptionally resolved”.
After identifying the victim’s killer, her niece said: “I know wherever she is, she can sleep in peace."
