Four decades after a mother was found killed in a wooded area of Charles County, Maryland, authorities say they have arrested the man responsible with the help of advancements in DNA testing technology.
Vickie Lynn Belk was 28 when she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and shot to death. The young mother worked in D.C. and was a resident of Suitland, but her body was discovered miles away in the area of Metropolitan Church Road and Route 227 in Charles County on Aug. 29, 1979, the Charles County Sheriff's Office said.
For years, detectives pursued the case and re-examined the evidence in Belk's killing as forensic technology advanced. But it wasn't until 2022 that newer technology found that DNA from Belk's clothing matched the DNA profile of 62-year-old Andre Taylor, a D.C. man who was in the Combined DNA Index System , a national DNA database, the Charles County Sheriff's Office said.Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"We learned Taylor's DNA was in the national database because he was arrested for several violent crimes, which occured in Washington, D.C.," Detectvie Sgt. John Elliot said. Officers arrested Taylor in D.C. on June 22. He was then extradited to Charles County, where he's being held without bond on murder and rape charges.U.S. & World
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