FINGERPRINT NAILS RONALD MACDONALD IN '78 SLAY

JUSTICE was a long time coming for Arlene Roberts but it did finally arrive. The widow, 80, was murdered on Oct. 30, 1978 in her trailer at a mobile home park on Lake Washington. Late last week cops busted a man in Reno named Ronald Wayne MacDonald, 50, as the murderer of long ago. King County detectives said a single fingerprint pointed the finger at MacDonald for the evil killing.
Sheriff Sue Rahr said: “DNA gets all the attention.
But other advances, including fingerprint identification ... solve crimes as well. It is very gratifying to finally solve the murder of an 80 year-old woman, thanks to AFIS and great detective work."
Roberts was found with hands and feet bound with nylon stockings and there was a gag in her mouth. A hair net was tightened around her neck. The trailer had been ransacked. Cops always theorized that robbery was the motive. But with little evidence the case went cold--until now. Cops got three finger print hits on MacDonald. MORE IN THE RENTON REPORTER

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COPS HOPE DNA IDs 1969 JANE DOE MURDER VICTIM

COPS IN Washington State have exhumed the remains of a woman found murdered in 1969 in the hope her DNA could crack two cold cases. King County detectives say the bodies of two women were found on a rural road. On June 5, 1969, Jane Doe's decomposed body was found off a dirt road a mile west of the Tolt River Bridge in east King County. Cops named the unidentified murder victim “Tolt Hill Jane Doe.”
A portion of a skull from a second victim--a young adult female--was found in 2006 about three blocks from where Jane Doe's lifeless body was found. The second victim has also never been identified. Now, cold case cops suspect the two slayings may be linked.
Sgt. John Urquhart said: “They hope to first find out who the person was, then find her killer."
“Tolt Hill Jane Doe” was described by investigators as a dark-haired white woman 23 to 25-years-old. She was about 5'1" or 5'2", weighing 105 to 115 lbs. She died weeks before she was found.
Anyone with information on this cold case is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 206-296-3311. The Sheriff's Office has around 190 cold-case homicides or missing persons that are likely homicides. Some cases date back to the early 1950s. MORE FROM THE SEATTLE PI

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