A man whose DNA helped solve a murder nearly 40 years ago was arrested

(CNN)– For more than 35 years, two Virginia families did not know who brutally murdered each of their beloved family members.

Now, a major research breakthrough has finally arrived for one family (and may soon for another) thanks to a scientific breakthrough that one grieving mother called “incredible.”

On Nov. 14, 1986, 40-year-old Jacqueline Lard was last seen finishing her day at her real estate office, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Tuesday. He never came home.

The next morning, employees of nearby businesses called the police after discovering a “crime scene indicating a gruesome struggle in a real estate office.” A day later, her body was found under a pile of discarded mattresses in a wooded area of ​​Woodbridge, about 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Washington.

A few years later, in 1989, 18-year-old Amy Baker was visiting family in Falls Church when she disappeared while returning to her home in Stafford County, according to Fairfax County police. On March 29, 1989, his empty vehicle was found on the side of the road and was towed away the next day by the police, believing it to be abandoned.

On March 31, her family searched the area where her vehicle was found and her body was found in a wooded area near the Interstate 95 exit ramp in Springfield, west of Alexandria.

Fairfax County police said investigators investigated and determined “Baker’s car ran out of gas on the exit ramp.” “They believe she left her vehicle to get help at a nearby gas station, confronted the suspect, who then fatally strangled her.”

Forensic tests were conducted in both cases, but the case eventually went cold.

DNA joins the detective force after success

In recent years, authorities have managed to send DNA from unsolved cases to laboratories. Advances in forensic science technology and the use of genetic genealogical forensic research, which combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogical research, have allowed further advances in DNA testing. It is increasingly being used as a powerful tool in police investigations to solve some of the country’s most notorious unsolved cases, such as the Golden State Killer in 2018.

It wasn’t until 2021 that DNA led to a breakthrough in the Virginia cases.

Cold case detectives with the Fairfax County Police Department sent evidence from Baker’s cold case to DNA Labs International and a DNA profile was developed, police said.

Meanwhile, a Stafford County detective was using genetic genealogy from the forensic investigation to help identify Lard’s killer.

“Uploading this profile to a Virginia state database revealed a link between Baker’s death and the ongoing homicide investigation of Jacqueline Lard in Stafford County,” Fairfax County police said.

Police said detectives from both counties “joined forces, determined to bring the accused to justice in this murder.”

Then, according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, genetic genealogy from a forensic examination identified the suspect’s last name in December. A DNA search warrant was obtained for Stafford County resident Elroy Harrison, 65.

Two months later, it was reported that Harrison’s DNA matched DNA evidence presented by authorities.

Harrison was indicted by a Stafford County grand jury on Monday for Jacqueline Lard’s first-degree murder, as well as kidnapping with intent to defile, malicious wounding and burglary with intent to murder, according to the sheriff’s office. He was arraigned Tuesday and remanded to Rappahannock Regional Jail without bail.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Harrison was assigned an attorney, and CNN has reached out to the attorney for comment. Harrison is being held without bond and will be arraigned next month, according to the sheriff’s office.

No one has yet been charged in Baker’s cold case, but the Fairfax County Police Department says it is closing the case, noting that “forensic evidence has linked the same suspect to Baker’s murder” in Lard’s murder.

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday that Fairfax County police investigators are working with the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office to file charges against Harrison for Baker’s murder.

As of Friday morning, no charges had been filed, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Baker’s mother, Sue Baker, who attended Harrison’s hearing in Stafford County virtually Wednesday, called the developments in the case “surreal” and the advances in forensic science “unbelievable.”

“Fairfax is handling this, and they will, but right now we want them to handle Jacqueline Lard’s case so we know she’ll never get out of jail,” Sue Baker told CNN.

“We never expected this,” added Sue Baker. “I never gave up. I told him I would never give up.”

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office told CNN that Lard’s family is not interested in commenting at this time.

CNN’s Michelle Watson contributed reporting to this publication.