Baltimore County detectives solve 1981 killing of teen girl

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Baltimore County police say they’ve solved a 40-year-old homicide of a teenage girl. The department announced Wednesday that DNA evidence has proven that John Anthony Petrecca Jr. killed Heather Porter, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in a wooded area of Towson in September 1981. County detectives reviewed the case last year and submitted the suspect’s DNA profile for analysis. Results received in February pointed to Petrecca as a potential suspect. The department got permission to exhume Petrecca’s remains from the cemetery where he was buried in 2000. It was collected in March, and detectives learned Nov. 12 that the DNA from Petrecca matched that of the suspect’s profile.