Families find relief after DNA testing helps solve 2 Brockton cold cases over 30 years old

After 35 years, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office says they have solved two cold cases dating back to 1991 and 1993. Thanks to DNA and genealogical testing, the families of Cherie Bishop and Donna Bell now have answers.

The body of Bishop was found in 1991 at Mulberry Park in Brockton. Police say her body was found wearing only red socks and an earring. The cause of death was deemed to be strangulation. In 1993, Bell was walking in Brockton when investigators say a man in a van pulled up and grabbed her.

"The unknown male held an electric wire across her face and told her to cooperate or he would strangle her," said Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz.

After sexually assaulting her, Cruz says the man reached for a sharp object. Bell grabbed the weapon, cutting herself in the process.

"She jumped out of the passenger side and screamed for help," said Cruz.

DNA testing linked the two cases back in 2016,  and seven years later, investigators gave the data to a DNA research group who placed the evidence inside a DNA database website.

"On these websites, genealogists used that data to identify close family members of the unknown DNA sample," explained Cruz.

Cruz says further testing identified Robert Crey as the culprit. He was a resident at a Brockton VA Hospital who died in 2025. So far, these are the only two cases linked to him.

"I don't think you can ever say that this is the end. It possibly could be," said Cruz.

For these families, it is the end. Maggie Bell believes her mother's will to live helped solve the case.

"She was strong, she was so strong," says Bell at a press conference announcing her mother's killer, "I am just proud of my mom, that she could fight the way that she did and get away, so this family could have some closure."

"That's the end, I'm 82 years old," said Cherie Bishop's mother, Linda Bishop, "I really didn't think it was ever going to happen, and it did."