1983 Michigan Rape and Murder Suspect ID'd After DNA Results

Twenty-four years ago on May 24, Laura Jean McBride was walking from her apartment to the Eastern Michigan University campus when she was raped and stabbed to death. Over the years police have had several suspect, but the case never went solved until now, as reported by the Ann Arbor News.

In 2004, police authorities in Ypsilanti, Mich., matched DNA from the crime scene where Laura McBride had been murdered. The match to the DNA was a 49-year-old man that was already serving a life sentence for a 1995 rape and assault case. Now after three years of building the case against Jimmy Eric Green, the Ypsilanti Police Department has charged Green formally as reported by Ann Arbor News.

According to court records, prosecutors authorized charges against Jimmy Eric Green. The charges are felony murder and first degree criminal sexual conduct in the stabbing death of Laura Jean McBride. Police Chief Matt Harshberger for the Ypsilanti Police Department expects Green to be arraigned at the Washtenaw County Jail by the end of May. Green is currently serving his sentence at the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility according to the Ann Arbor News.

Brian Mackie, Washtenaw County Prosecutor refused to release of discuss any of the investigation details regarding Green's case. Chief Harshberger added that "the fact that he was in custody allowed us the opportunity to make sure our t's were crossed and our i's were dotted.'' He also said "He wasn't going anywhere and wasn't a threat to the community, and that allowed us to take our time and make sure it was done properly," as reported by the Ann Arbor News.

Laura Jean McBride, who was a 26-year-old junior at Eastern Michigan University as well as a veteran of the Air Force, had been walking from her Green Road apartment in which she shared with her sister to an early class when she was abducted and killed. Her body was discovered in Peninsular Park by the Huron River as reported by the Ann Arbor News.

Then in 2005, the Ypsilanti Police re-opened McBride's case. Green's name did not come up immediately until semen that had been found at the scene was entered into the national database and matched Green's DNA. Now police authorities are going through the steps of tracking down witness and updating the family of Laura McBride. Unfortunately McBride's family could not be reached to make a statement as reported by the Ann Arbor News.

Green who is serving a life sentence from a 1995 case in which he bound and gagged one woman and raped her roommate. If convicted of the McBride crime, a felony murder conviction carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the Ann Arbor News reported.

SOURCE : DNA ID's 83 Slaying Suspect - Ann Arbor News