When 28-year-old Genevieve "Jenny" Zitricki was found beaten and strangled to death in the bathtub of her apartment, no one knew that nearly 30 years would pass before the murderer was revealed.

"Everyone was looking for models," said Bush Banton, a retired detective who had headed the Zitricki case in 1990.

Greenville police have uniquely elucidated the cold deal after advances in DNA testing have linked the "rapist and violent serial rapist" to the murder of Zitricki, a case that has led to a brutal crime path through the country, said police chief Ken Miller on Friday.

The man has recently been identified as Robert Eugene Brashers. He died at the hospital as a result of a self-inflicted bullet wound on January 19, 1999, six days after a meeting with police in Kennet, Missouri.

Zitricki's death would be one of the first attacks of a series of murders and assaults by Brashers on other women and children in four states, according to the Greenville police.

"He attacked her while she was sleeping," Miller said of Brashers. "He pummeled, strangled and sexually assaulted."

Brashser first appeared on the radar of the forces of order when he was accused of beating and shooting a woman in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. He served a three-and-a-half year prison sentence and was released in 1989. Less than a year later, he had killed Zitricki in Greenville. .

The Missouri authorities determined that Brashers was behind the double murder of Sherri Scherer and her 12-year-old daughter, Megan, who was shot dead in their home in Portageville, Missouri, on March 28, 1998. police said that Megan had also been sexually assaulted.

A few hours later and across state borders in Dyersburg, Tennessee, investigators say the Brashers fired on another woman while he was trying to forcibly bring in his home. The woman pushed him back and survived the attempted murder.

During the shooting in Tennessee, the survivor proposed a description of the man and a sketch was presented across the United States. This sketch and this case series were featured in the television show "America's Most Wanted" in 2009. Still, no one has come up with an identity.

More than 150 tracks had yielded no results, according to the investigators. Despite the DNA correspondence linking Zitricki's murder to double murder in Missouri, investigators have not been able to find a person behind the DNA.

Investigators said Friday that the new DNA technology had managed to reveal the identity of the man.

The Greenville Police Department worked with the Tennessee authorities to use Parabon NanoLabs, Inc., a vertically integrated DNA technology company that develops forensics products to advance DNA processing. Parabon uses genetic genealogy to search for DNA matches between family members and formally produce the identity of an individual.

The investigators obtained DNA samples from surviving family members of the Brashers. Last week, his remains were exhumed in Arkansas by court order. Additional DNA samples collected there have highlighted the Brashers in crimes committed in several states in the 1990s, including the murders of Sherri and Megan Scherer and the sexual assault in 1997 of a 14 year old teenager near Memphis.

Zitricki was found in her bathtub at least two days after his assassination when a maintenance officer came in and discovered him. The tub was filled with water. The investigating authorities had claimed to believe that the murderer had beat her to death in her room and then dragged her to the bathroom, where he had been waiting for her. diving into water to hide any material evidence.

A trail of blood went from the bedroom to the bathroom, twenty meters away. The killer also used tights tied around her neck to drag her into the apartment. Nothing was stolen. The contents of Zitricki's handbag were also emptied into her sink also filled with water.

Zitricki, originally from Ohio and recently divorced, was a programmer for Michelin. She lived alone in what was once the Hidden Lakes apartment complex on Villa Road. She lived alone but was a social and extroverted "fireball", said her brother, Phillip Hegedusich.

"We do well to remember her in life," Hegedusich said. "She was a vanguard of nature, a firecracker, a bundle of infectious energy, an intelligent, dynamic and caring human being."

Hegedusich, who lives in New York, attended Friday's announcement, saying it was something he would never miss after waiting so long for answers.

"Twenty-eight years, twenty-eight years, it's been a long time, it's time to get cold in the tracks," Hegedusich said, addressing the media and law enforcement officials. local and provincial law enforcement agencies. "We thank you for your perseverance, your team work and your zeal to proceed."

Hegedusich said that he was always kept informed of the progress of the police department over the years, but that he was starting to get bored.

"In the last 28 years there have been false starts," he said. "You start taking things with a little salt."

Miller said some investigators who had already retired had been brought back to work. He added that the police department was working tirelessly to find a suspect.

Banton described the news of the Brashers' identity as a "relief."

"We never gave up.Everyone continued to try and try and try to solve this problem," he said. "It's one of those cases where you never let go."

With the new DNA technology in the hands of law enforcement, Greenville investigators are looking into other unresolved cases to determine if other evidence can be subjected to the same tests.

The Greenville Police Department cost the law enforcement services in Memphis about $ 4,800, and the Greenville Police Department took on the cost of exhuming the remains of Brashers on his grave costing about $ 1. $ 300, said Lt. Jason Rampey.

Cases that were once thought to have become cold could have a new life, Miller said. Authorities in all states are taking a closer look at the Brashers. Some of his potential crimes may still be unsolved.

"It is extremely possible that there are other cases of cold or other sexual assault," Miller said.

According to Miller, the Brashers' identity highlights the importance for police departments to speed up the testing of sexual assault evidence kits in the event that DNA matches can link suspects to victims.

The exact reason for Zitricki's murder is still undetermined, but Sgt. Tim Conroy said he believed the Brashers could target him because she was sociable. He added that she would hold poolside parties in her apartment complex and would often allow party goers to use her home to go to the restroom.

While Brashers suicide means that he will not be held accountable for his actions through the criminal justice system, investigators are still "relieved to know that he has not done so much." hurt anyone else "since his death.

"None of these efforts can bring Jenny back in. We can only see that this day brings peace to her soul and peace to her family," Miller said.

More: According to the archives: The Villa Road murdered in 1990, the clues help to find the murderer

Related: DNA has not helped solve Jenny Zitricki's homicide

Check back on greenvilleonline.com to learn more about this story in development.

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