DNA leads to arrest in 1978 butchering of Buffalo woman – Toronto Sun

The blood in the freshly fallen snow led detectives to the mutilated body of Linda Tschari.

It was Feb. 8, 1978 and Buffalo was in the grips of a blizzard.

Now, 42 years later, cold case cops say theyve busted 19-year-old Tscharis killer.

The young woman had been stabbed multiple times in various parts of her body. She was found by her brother after the family were unable to contact her and became worried.

Tschari had lived in a cottage behind the larger home where her mother, father and brother resided.

Cops theorized she had been surprised by the killer and butchered in her bed. The only thing detectives had to go on was a witness description of her attacker, who fled in a car into the snowy night.

And the blood in the alley? It likely belonged to the murderer.

John M. Sauberan, 60, has been charged with second-degree murder in the 1978 slaying of a Buffalo woman. BUFFALO POLICE

DNA has a long memory and it paid dividends with the arrest of John M. Sauberan, who is now charged with second-degree murder. Police say his DNA matched that left at the crime scene long ago.

The 60-year-olds DNA was in the national database as a result of a 2008 Oregon arrest, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn told reporters.

Cops described Sauberan as a drifter who moved frequently around the U.S., including Georgia and Florida.

But Flynn told The Buffalo News that Sauberan was not an ex-boyfriend or even an acquaintance of Tschari.

Right now, I have no reason to believe that he knew her at all, he said.

Conveniently, Sauberan had recently moved back to Buffalo. He has pleaded not guilty.

Detectives in the late 70s could not have imagined what the future would hold in the world of forensics and DNA, Buffalo Police Chief of Detectives Dennis J. Richards said.

But with a great amount of persistence from an awful lot of people, an arrest has been made and the next chapter begins in the prosecution of the person we believe responsible for Linda Tscharis death.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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DNA leads to arrest in 1978 butchering of Buffalo woman - Toronto Sun