Detectives in Kentucky said they have finally cracked a 47-year-old cold case thanks to DNA technology. Carol Sue Klaber, 16, was killed in the summer of 1976 but no match had ever been found from the traces of DNA her killer left on her body. But this week cold case detectives Coy Cox and Tim Adams named Thomas Dunaway as the 16-year-old’s murderer.
Kabler was last seen on June 5, 1976 shortly after leaving her parents’ house in Fort Wright, Kentucky.
She was seen dropping off her bike and getting into a car described as a Chevrolet Monte Carlo or a Pontiac Grand Prix.
The 16-year-old’s body was found in a ditch the day after her disappearance. The cause of death was given as blunt-force trauma and her body showed signs of sexual assault.
Traces of the killer’s DNA were found on the body but no match was found until a few weeks ago.
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Cox and Adams said they sent out the DNA evidence to genetic genealogy company Othram Labs to be tested and later found a “100 percent match”.
Cox said: “In less than two months from that time, we got a response from Othram Labs that, ‘Hey, we believe this is your guy.'”
The company said the DNA likely belonged to Dunaway, who had died in 1990, but the match was confirmed when the lab tested it against a living relative.
Cox added: “When we collected that, they said this is a 100 percent match. Wow. Parent-child match.”
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Dunaway was 19 at the time of the murder. He enlisted into the US Army within days of Klaber’s murder.
Cox and Adams discovered the killer had murdered another man six months after Carol Sue Kabler had died, and went AWOL from the Army.
Reviewing reports from the time of Carol Sue’s murder, Cox and Adams discovered the description of the driver of the car she had been seen entering the last time she was spotted matched Dunaway.
Speaking during a press conference to announce a breakthrough in the case, Cox said: “Monday, June 7th, the Kentucky Post newspaper article comes out, and it describes the vehicle and the individual’s description in the newspaper.
“So June the 14th, he’s putting pen to paper, enlisting in the Army.”
Cox and Adams this week secured permission to have Dunaway exhumed to collect a DNA sample so it can be included in the Combined DNA Index System. Adding it to CODIS will allow investigators to check whether he is connected to other unsolved crimes.
Detective Cox personally informed Kabler’s brother about the latest developments, tearing up as he described the feeling of “relief” he could see in the man’s expression.
He said: “Physically, you could see him, just the relief.
“I mean, just let the air just kind of left his body. And then he made the audible statement that ‘I have closure.’”
Because Dunaway died in December 1990, Boone County Commonwealth’s Attorney Louis Kelly said the case is now considered closed.
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