A man who died in a Texas prison decades ago has been identified as the man who kidnapped, stabbed and left three Indiana girls in a cornfield nearly 50 years ago, police say using DNA evidence. Cited and published.
The girls, aged 11, 13 and 14, survived the attack, but no “obvious suspects” were ever identified and the case remains unsolved to this day. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday that investigators used “forensic genetic genealogy” to identify the attacker as Thomas Edward Williams, who died in a Galveston, Texas, prison in November 1983 at age 49. Announced.
“Today's announcement, nearly 50 years later, is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our detectives and our partners,” Deputy Chief Kendale Adams said in a news release.
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Police said that at the time of the August 1975 attack, Williams was living in Indianapolis, near where the three girls were abducted while hitchhiking.
The two were driven to a cornfield in rural Hancock County, where one was raped and stabbed in the throat and chest, and the other two had their throats cut, the Indianapolis Star reported. Two of the girls warned the driver to seek help.
A long-dead inmate has been identified as the suspect in the unsolved kidnapping and assault of three girls in Indiana.
Investigators began investigating the incident in 2018 after three women, now adults, reported the unsolved attack to police, which led to the examination of evidence at the crime scene.
In 2021, authorities created a complete DNA profile of the unknown man from some of the evidence they had previously collected and matched it with two additional DNA profiles from other evidence, police said.
Investigators last year submitted the profile to DNA Labs International, a Florida-based forensic laboratory, where “the latest available forensic techniques” were applied, police said.
Police said ancestry analysis helped identify the suspect's children, and samples from Williams' relatives helped confirm the suspect's identity.
Three women, Sheri Rottler Trick, Kathy Rottler and Candice Smith, spoke at a press conference Thursday about how they have remained committed to helping law enforcement identify perpetrators for decades. said.
“My heart is at peace now,” Smith said.
Rottler-Trick said she forgave the man who attacked her “to move on with my life.”
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The Associated Press typically does not identify people who have been sexually assaulted unless they voluntarily come forward.
