Candice “Candy” Rogers (9) disappeared without a trace after selling sweets in the American hometown of Spokane in March 1959.
Several weeks later, she was found dead, hidden under twigs and bushes in a nearby forest. The autopsy report shook the local community: the nine-year-old had been raped and strangled to death with a piece of her own clothes.
In the time that followed, the police worked hard to find out who was behind the atrocities. Despite thousands of tips and clues, the murder mystery seemed impossible to solve.
Now – 62 years later – however, the police have made a breakthrough in the brutal murder case.
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DNA-tested buried corpse
Earlier this year, the police used a state-of-the-art DNA test method. A semen sample from Candy’s clothing was provided for analysis at the Texas laboratory. This led the police to the perpetrator, Spokane police district writes in a press release.
However, the man died in 1970. To be absolutely sure that he was behind the atrocities, the police were allowed to dig up the body to obtain his DNA.
The samples from the body matched the semen found on Candy’s clothes, and police were finally able to determine who raped and killed the nine-year-old in 1959.
Investigator Zac Storment is happy that the comprehensive case has finally been resolved. He compares the years-long exploration with the world’s highest mountain.
– This is Mount Everest of cold case cases. The one we thought we would never overcome, while no one has ever forgotten it, he says in a video interview in connection with the announcement of the breakthrough.
When asked how many hours the police have spent investigating the murder mystery, Storment answers the following:
– This is not measured in hours. It is measured in careers.
Kyle Rittenhouse acquitted of murder
Convicted of assault
The perpetrator was in his 20s when the horrific incident took place. He grew up in Spokane and lived about a mile from Candy’s family, according to police.
A few years after Candy’s murder, he was sentenced to six months in prison for assault with intent to rob. Then he allegedly assaulted a woman and undressed her, burned her with her own clothes and strangled her before fleeing the scene. The woman survived.
However, the man has never been a suspect in the Candy case before the new DNA samples taken this year.
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