NEW MADRID, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say DNA evidence has identified the man who killed three people and raped a girl in the 1990s, even though the suspect killed himself nearly 20 years ago.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Friday that Robert Brashers of Paragould, Arkansas, killed Genevieve Zitricki of Greenville, South Carolina, in 1990, and Sherri Scherer and her 12-year-old daughter, Megan, in Portageville, Missouri, in 1998. Megan was sexually assaulted.
Brashers also raped a 14-year-old girl in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1997.
Brashers killed himself in 1999 as Kennett, Missouri, police sought to question him in a stolen license plate investigation.
DNA evidence gathered from Brashers' relatives prompted a court order to exhume his body on Sept. 27. Missouri investigators say DNA from the corpse confirmed Brashers committed each of the crimes.
