Suspect in cold case killings of Marebeth Welsh and Jennifer Persia identified after yearslong investigation

More than 30 years later, a suspect has been linked through DNA evidence to the previously unsolved killings of two young women in Camden County, New Jersey, in the 1990s.

Francis Schooley is believed to have killed 24-year-old Marebeth Welsh and 16-year-old Jennifer Persia, Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay announced in a news conference.

The work to find a suspect in Welsh's and Persia's killings took years and was only possible thanks to investigative techniques that utilized the DNA evidence found at each crime scene and carefully maintained over the years.

Investigators believe Schooley killed Welsh on Nov. 14, 1993, at a home where she was living in Woodlynne and later dumped her body on Jackson Street in the city of Camden. Almost five months later, on April 4, 1994, Persia was found stabbed to death in her home in Magnolia.

Schooley died by suicide in 2000. Investigators who spoke at the news conference say the evidence they have is strong enough that, were he alive today, Schooley would be charged in both murder cases.

"We recognize that identifying Schooley as responsible for the deaths of Jennifer and Marebeth cannot restore these young women to their families, who have endured the profound loss of their loved one for more than 30 years. However, we hope this development offers a measure of justice as well as some comfort to their families," MacAulay said.

Warning: the details in the case may be graphic.