Florida woman's 1994 murder solved after detectives dig up grave of former U.S. Marine
Florida detectives have solved the brutal 1994 murder of an 89-year-old woman after an investigation culminated in digging up the grave of a former U.S. Marine who once lived near the victim's home, authorities said Tuesday.
The Broward Sheriff's Office announced they were finally able to close the 28-year-cold case of the murder of 89-year-old Lillian DeCloe, who was killed in her Pompano Beach home in April 1994.
Authorities identified the killer as Johnny Mack Brown, a Vietnam War veteran who once lived a few houses away from DeCloe. Brown, who has been dead for over 10 years, struggled with PTSD and drug addiction, his family told the sheriff's office.
Officials said that semen recovered from DeCloe's nightgown after she was sexually assaulted by her killer was the key to solving the murder after the department's Cold Case Homicide Unit reopened her case in 2019.
"Like an episode of 'CSI', a series of breakthroughs led to Lillian's killer, and the first emerged from DNA evidence recovered from Lillian's nightgown," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "The killer left semen on the garment after he sexually assaulted Lillian. From that evidence, BSO's Crime Lab developed a suspect profile."
Authorities reached out to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct a familial search of its database. The process involves using a DNA profile to search for close male relatives to the contributor. That process ultimately identified a known offender who had spent time in a Florida prison and whose DNA was on file, the sheriff's office said.
The known offender was deduced to be a possible close relative of the DNA contributor in DeCloe's murder, which led investigators to Brown.
Then in August, detectives exhumed Brown's body and collected tissue samples from his remains. Testing confirmed that Brown's DNA matched evidence left at the crime scene.
"The results were more than conclusive – the DNA results are 66.8 trillion times more likely that they came from Brown and DeCloe than if they came from DeCloe and another person," the sheriff's office said.
The results finally brought answers to DeCloe's family, who for nearly three decades were left wondering "who could possibly murder this harmless woman, who spent her life as a teacher and nurse, caring for others," according to the sheriff's office.
"I know wherever she is, she can sleep in peace," said DeCloe's niece, June Nicholas.
