NEWYou can listen to Fox News articles now!Years after DNA linked a 1991 murder and a rape in Massachusetts forensic genetic genealogy has helped investigators identify a man authorities claim was responsible for both cases.Evidence of the killing of Cherie bishop in 1991 and Donna Bell’s rape in 1993 were uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System on Thursday, Plymouth County district attorney Timothy Cruz announced. Cruz said that for decades, the Bishop families and Bell families did not know the whole story about what happened to their loved one. “They carried the tragedies throughout their lives. Investigators said Bishop, 28 was found strangled near her Brockton home in June 1991. Bell was raped by a man in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1993.FOLLOW FOX TRUE CRIME ON XBishop, who was wearing only socks and a single diamond earring was found dead near Mulberry Park. Her cause of death was ruled to be mechanical asphyxiation, and the manner of death was homicide.Investigators collected DNA evidence through a rape kit and analyzed it at the time, but no suspect was identified. The evidence was retested later as forensic genealogy technologies advanced. Bell died in 2021. Cruz said investigators knew since 2016 that there was a connection between the cases, but DNA evidence could not identify a suspect. Like what you’re reading? FIND OUT MORE ON TRUE CRIME HUBThe district attorney’s office said Othram – a Texas forensic genealogical lab – identified a probable relative of the suspect and helped investigators identify Carey. Carey, who died from natural causes at 64 in June 2025, lived at Brockton Veterans Administration Medical Center, about 1.5 miles away from both crime scene, the district prosecutor’s office stated.
