DNA evidence leads to the arrest of DJs in the 1992 assassination of the teacher

LANCASTER, Pa. – Police used genealogical information from a close relative to identify the suspect in the rape and strangulation of a primary school teacher in 1992 and reported that he had been arrested. accused Monday of murder for a long time unresolved.

A Lancaster County detective accused Raymond Charles Rowe, 49, a popular DJ, of beating Christy Mirack to death in his home while she was preparing to go to teach a grade six class. She had suffered a broken jaw in addition to strangulation and evidence of a violent sexual assault.

"We never dropped this case," but the investigators were running out of suspects, said Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman. "It has not been easy, but one of the reasons we have kept it and have never forgotten is that it is so disturbing."

The DNA left on the crime scene by the assailant never triggered a match, and Rowe had not been a suspect during the investigation years, Stedman said. . In December 1992, Rowe lived about 4 miles from the Mirack apartment shared with a roommate. We do not know if they knew each other.

Stedman recently hired a private company to use DNA to search for relatives of the suspect, and this process identified Rowe.

"This killer was free from this crime, this brutal crime, for longer than Christy Mirack was alive on this earth," Stedman said at a press conference. "And they directed us on the way to hold him ultimately responsible."

An undercover operation at an elementary school where he was performing on May 31st while DJ Freez was producing a bottle of water and gum that he had used, and the police at him. State then established an alleged genetic match.

Rowe was arrested at his home on Monday and charged with criminal homicide. The court records did not identify a defense attorney, and a message left to his DJ business was not immediately returned.

Authorities said Mirack had been found wearing a coat and gloves, suggesting that she was about to leave her house when she was killed. A wooden cutting board, believed to have been used to attack him, was found by his body.

The principal of her primary school, Mirack, did not show up for work four days before Christmas and did not answer the calls, she discovered the body on the floor of her living room and called 911.

An autopsy revealed injuries to the neck, back, upper chest and face.