1980 Cold Case Solved: Man Who Killed 16-year-old Stepdaughter Accused of Idaho Stabbing

1980 Cold Case Solved Man Who Killed 16-year-old Stepdaughter Accused of Idaho Stabbing
Image Via: True Crime News

Following the identification of a prime suspect in the killing of a woman whose bones were discovered next to an irrigation canal over 44 years ago, a cold case has recently come to an end.

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office states that on June 26, 1980, a highway crew found a dead woman who was subsequently identified as Mary Tracy. The woman appeared to have had stab wounds to her neck and chest. There was a small piece of newspaper attached to her face and dried blood on her skull, according to reports.

Following an autopsy, it was discovered that Tracy had eleven knife wounds on her left side of the body, three of which were defensive wounds, meaning Tracy had “fought for her life.”

After the evening of June 24, 1980, the victim had not been seen or heard from. After a fight with her husband, Tracy allegedly left her two girls in a motel with a friend.

According to the sheriff’s office, Tracy and her spouse have been accused of having financial problems and marital stress. But when Tracy was discovered, the victim’s husband was in the hospital, so authorities didn’t name him as a suspect.

Rumors circulated among witnesses that someone had died at the Sunliner Motel, but the establishment denied any knowledge of the incident. Investigators were reportedly informed by a maid that she discovered blood in a motel room; however, significant proof could not be located.

The case remained unsolved despite the detectives’ best attempts to identify a culprit.

The sheriff’s office claims that in August 2023, investigators resumed their investigation, reviewed the evidence, conducted additional interviews, and sent DNA evidence to the Idaho State Police Forensic Lab.

The newspaper from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer that was adhered to Tracy’s temple was among the things gathered, according to the deputies.

It was published almost ten years prior to the discovery of the victim’s remains. Investigators allegedly came over an item on Richard Speck in the newspaper. Speck was found guilty of slashing eight nursing students in the neck, killing them.

Investigators also discovered, according to the sheriff’s office, that they had spoken with a jail informant who said that a man by the name of Charles Strain had said, “I just killed a girl, and I threw her over a ditch.”

Still, the jail informant was too old to be reinterviewed by investigators—he passed away thirty years ago.

According to deputies, Strain had a long criminal past spanning several states. He allegedly abducted his 10-year-old noncustodial daughter from her mother in 1981 and took her to Arizona, where they lived for two and a half years.

He allegedly said that they lived behind aliases and that their mother perished in an automobile accident.

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Deeana Dean, 16, was found half clothed and killed from a gunshot wound to the head. In 1986, Strain was detained and found guilty of her death. Before his arrest, she had been missing for five years. In 2007, while under the care of the Utah jail system, Strain passed away from a heart attack.

According to the deputies, they collected a sample of Strain’s DNA and sent it for additional analysis. Thus, according to a report that was supposedly given to police in June, Strain “was a probable contributor to the male DNA taken from Mary’s body.”

Although Mary’s case has been resolved, the sheriff’s office stated on October 4 that they were closing the case and “still hoping to find some answers.”

Sheriff’s officials stated that they believe Tracy was murdered at the Sunliner Motel and that they are searching for a friend of the deceased, “known only as Lisa, who may have been one of the last people to see her alive.”

Via: truecrimenews.com

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