A 78-year-old man incarcerated practically 2,000 miles away has been charged with the 1980 sexual assault and homicide of a 25-year-old Texas nursing scholar, Austin police mentioned in a press launch Friday.
Because of DNA know-how, police say Deck Brewer Jr., at the moment serving time in Massachusetts for an unrelated crime, allegedly kidnapped and killed Susan Leigh Wolfe a block from her residence round 10 p.m. on Jan. 9, 1980, whereas strolling to a pal’s home.
Wolfe had simply enrolled on the College of Texas Austin College of Nursing that day and was simply 4 days from her twenty sixth birthday, when she was murdered.
A witness to the kidnapping mentioned they noticed a automobile cease and the suspect grabbed Wolfe off the sidewalk in a “bear hug” and compelled her inside after throwing a coat over her head.
Susan Leigh Wolfe, 25, was kidnapped a block from her residence round 10 p.m. on Jan. 9, 1980, whereas strolling to a pal’s home. (Austin Police Division)
Investigators discovered her useless from a gunshot wound in an alley the subsequent morning with proof of strangulation and sexual assault. The witness additionally thought he noticed one other particular person within the automobile, which may have been a second suspect.
Within the first yr, investigators with the Austin Police Division adopted up on dozens of leads and at one level had as many as 40 individuals of curiosity, and interviewed a minimum of six suspects.
In April of final yr, detectives with the division’s Chilly Case Unit submitted crime scene DNA proof to the Texas DPS Crime Laboratory and final February the outcomes eradicated the six recognized suspects.
Deck Brewer Jr. has been charged within the decades-old homicide of Susan Leigh Wolfe. (Austin Police Division)
The proof was entered into the Mixed DNA Index System (CODIS), a nationwide DNA database of convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene proof, and lacking individuals.
In March, Brewer was recognized as a doable match. Then final month, after a DNA search warrant, Brewer got here again as a match.
Wolfe had simply enrolled within the College of Texas Austin College of Nursing on the day she was murdered. (Google Maps)
Brewer admitted to investigators that he had been in Austin and across the time of the homicide, however wouldn’t say anymore with out a lawyer.
The APD mentioned the possibility Brewer’s DNA was incorrectly matched is one in 550.5 quintillion.
“One quintillion is followed by 18 zeros,” police mentioned.
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The case continues to be energetic and investigators need to establish the particular person the witness mentioned they noticed within the passenger seat when Wolfe was kidnapped.
