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Ohio police have finally solved the 1981 cold case murder of 18-year-old Debbie Lee Miller, but the killer will never face justice because of a deadly standoff.
Using DNA evidence, Miller's upstairs neighbor James Vanest has now been confirmed as her killer 43 years later. Long suspected of the crime, he died recently, in a gunfight with police.
Newsweek sought email comment from Mansfield police on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
The case offers hope for thousands of families across the U.S. Nearly 340,000 cases of homicide and nonnegligent manslaughter went unsolved from 1965 to 2022, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report data analyzed by the nonprofit group, The Murder Accountability Project, which aims to highlight unsolved murders.
What To Know
Mansfield police chief Jason Bammann told WEWS TV in Ohio on December 30 that Vanest has been confirmed as Miller's killer, using DNA and other evidence collected at the scene.
Vanest had a long criminal history and police say he beat Miller to death in her apartment in April 1981 using "pots, pans, and oven grates," Chris Brown, assistant prosecutor for Richland County, told the outlet.
Miller's badly beaten and naked body was found in her bedroom by maintenance workers. She was survived by eight brothers and sisters and her parents, Shelva Jean Miller of Mansfield and Leroy Dale of California. She was due to graduate from high school in June, 1981 and had been working part-time at the local Mr T's coffee shop.
In 2021, police reopened the case and discovered Vanest's DNA was in several key places at the murder scene.
Ohio police then interviewed him at a motel in Canton, Ohio, where he had been living.
Police suspected that Vanest was trying to claim that he had previously been in Miller's apartment as a way of explaining the presence of his DNA, even though police had not revealed their DNA findings to him.
Vanest was killed by police in November during a shoot out, during which he shot a police officer in the arm. Police were trying to serve an arrest warrant on Vanest for illegal gun possession at the time.
Local 12 TV station in Ohio reported on December 31 that, before Vanest's death, Mansfield prosecutors had been quietly preparing to go before a grand jury to have Vanest arrested for Miller's murder.
What People Are Saying
During a press conference on Monday, Bammann told reporters: "The DNA evidence collected from multiple items, when analyzed alongside the findings in Mansfield Police Detective Terry Butler's investigation, establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Vanest committed the murder of Debra Miller on April 29, 1981. Because of this, we now consider the case closed."
"Over the past 40 years, her homicide has gone unsolved. During this time, the case has been reopened several times. One individual continued to draw investigators' attention but not enough evidence could ever be provided to sustain an indictment."
What Happens Next
Although an arrest is impossible, after months of evidence gathering, police hope that the confirmation of the late murderer will bring Miller's family some closure.
"As law enforcement officers, you always want to see the handcuffs on the bad guy. That's what we do for a living. But I can tell you, seeing the family with a little bit of relief and closure certainly supersedes our need," Bammann told Monday's press conference.
He added that Miller's family "is grateful that this case has finally been resolved," the Richland Source news website reported.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more