A suspect has finally been identified and arrested in the mysterious 1979 cold case rape and murder of a Maryland woman.
Kathryn Donohue, 31, was found beaten, raped and killed in a parking lot on March 3, 1979.
The case went unsolved for decades and no suspects were identified until police got a DNA hit in late 2024.
Genetic genealogy DNA analysis led the FBI and the Prince George’s County Police Department to identify a relative of their suspect.
Using the new DNA evidence, police matched 82-year-old Rodger Zodas Brown of Pinehurst, North Carolina to the DNA left at the crime.
He was arrested at his North Carolina home last week, with the help of the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and FBI Charlotte Field Office, police said.
They took a plastic fork from the trash can outside his home and tested the DNA, then arrested him after it matched a sample taken from Donahue’s slip, according to The Washington Post.
‘This case serves as a reminder that we will never give up seeking the truth no matter how much time has passed,’ Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said.
Rodger Zodas Brown (pictured), 82, was identified and arrested in the mysterious 1979 cold case rape and murder of a Maryland woman
Kathryn Donohue (pictured), 31, was found beaten, raped and killed in a parking lot on March 3, 1979
Brown was charged with first-degree murder, rape and related charges. He remains in North Carolina pending extradition to Prince George’s County.
Police said Brown was ‘cold’ and had ‘no reaction’ when he was arrested and charged with Donohue’s murder.
Donohue lived in Arlington, Virginia, and worked as a secretary in Washington, DC. She had gone out for dinner the night she was killed.
To her friends and family, she was known as ‘Kathy’ and was described as an ‘outgoing young lady.’
Investigators said they are still working to figure out how Donohue and Brown’s paths crossed 45 years ago.
‘While this remains an active investigation, at this time, there is no known connection between the victim and suspect,’ police said.
Investigators said Brown lived in Hyattsville in Prince George’s County at the time of the killing, but had a criminal history in New York.
He was arrested in 1967 and served an 11-year sentence for armed robbery in Nassau County before being released in June 1978. Brown moved to North Carolina in 2017.
Police took a plastic fork from the trash can outside his home and tested the DNA, then arrested him after it matched a sample taken from Donahue’s slip
Donohue’s family issued a statement thanking investigators for their commitment to getting justice.
‘The entire Donohue family would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone involved in this investigation, especially the men and women in the Prince’s George’s County Police Department, for their tireless efforts and unwavering dedication to seeking justice,’ they said.
‘We will always be grateful for their determination, their compassion, and their relentless pursuit of the truth which has finally given us a sense of closure that we never thought possible after all this time.’
