Investigators crack cold case murder of South Dakota woman

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Police in South Dakota say they believe they’ve solved the murder of a pharmacist who was raped and strangled in her Rapid City home over 50 years ago.

Investigators say they used DNA and genealogy databases to identify a man who died of cancer in 2009.

Detective Wayne Keefe said at a news conference Monday that they believe the suspect killed 60-year-old Gwen Miller in 1968 when he was a 25-year-old living in Rapid City. Keefe called it “a little surreal” to finally identify him after 51 years and 4,000-5,000 hours of work.

A forensic genealogist analyzed the DNA profile from Miller’s body and used public genealogy websites to identify a brother of the killer. Then Keefe used old phone directories to determine the suspect had lived near the victim.

AP-WF-06-18-19 1353GMT