DNA connects Florida death row inmate to nearly 25-year-old rape and murder cold case, sheriff says

(CNN) — A nearly 25-year-old rape and murder cold case has been solved due to DNA forensics and genetics, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Sheriff Gregory Tony identified the victim as Eileen Truppner and the killer as Lucious Boyd, 64, at a news conference. Boyd is on death row for a murder committed two weeks before Truppner’s death, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

In December 1998, Truppner’s body was found by a boater in southwest Broward County near US Route 27, according to a news statement from May.

Using DNA found at the crime scene, investigators contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement genealogy unit. DNA swabs from Truppner’s relatives were taken for comparison.

The office emphasized Boyd is a suspect in several other homicides. He reportedly traveled across the state of Florida and the sheriff’s office is looking for tips from anyone who may have had contact with him between 1995 and 1999.

“We strongly believe he’s a serial killer,” said Broward County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jonathan Brown.

This is the 21st cold case that has been solved since the Broward Sheriff’s Homicide Cold Case Unit was established in 2019.

“If you commit a crime, a brutal murder or a rape, whether it (was) 20 years ago or tomorrow,” Tony said, “We’re gonna track you down and bring you into custody.”

“The wound is open, it hurts and it hurts like it was yesterday,” Truppner’s sister Nancy said.

In November, a grand jury indicted Boyd for first-degree murder and sexual battery in connection with Truppner’s death.

CNN has reached out to the Broward County Public Defender’s Office for comment.

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