DNA could help solve 62 child slaying near Akron

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Akron Beacon Journal via AP Friday December 26, 2014 2:33 AM

AKRON Authorities hope DNA can solve the slaying of a 12-year-old girl more than five decades ago in northeastern Ohio.

Marion Brubakers body was recently exhumed in Summit County to provide a DNA sample and fingernail clippings for testing by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Authorities said the girl was attacked and killed as she rode her bike home in an Akron suburb in the summer of 1962. Her body and bike were found in a wooded area in Coventry Township.

Detectives theorized then that sexual assault was the motive for the girls strangling, although tests showed no evidence of rape.

The Akron Beacon Journal reported that a teenage boy who reported finding the body has always denied any involvement in Marions death. The paper reported that the boys pants had a broken zipper, he was wearing a torn shirt and he had unexplained scratches. He was never charged.

Now 67, he was recently questioned again by sheriffs detectives. He told authorities in 1962 that he was bored that day and decided to walk through the woods, where he found Marions body.

Detectives reopened the case again in 2012 but have released few details about their investigation. Marions bike remains in the evidence room more than 50 years later.

Were definitely doing everything we can, Akron detective Larry Brown said. It was a brutal homicide. I know its been 50 years, but Im hopeful something is still there.

Investigators have theorized that the girl was headed home from the Portage Lakes Public Library and took a shortcut through the woods when she was attacked.

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DNA could help solve 62 child slaying near Akron