Austin Police Department
(AUSTIN, TEXAS) – A 78-year-old man has now been charged with a murder that occurred more than 40 years ago after investigators used his genetic genealogy to identify him as a suspect.
Deck Brewer Jr., a man already in prison in Massachusetts, has been charged with the 1980 murder of 25-year-old Susan Leigh Wolfe, Austin, Texas police said.
According to police, Wolfe had just enrolled as a nursing student at the University of Texas at Austin when she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed on January 9, 1980.
Wolfe was abducted a block from her home around 10 p.m. as she was on her way to visit a friend. A witness saw a car stop before the driver got out and grabbed Wolfe in a “bear hug,” pulled a coat over her head and forced her into the back seat of the car, police reported.
Wolfe’s body was found the next morning in an Austin alley. Her body showed signs of strangulation and the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
During an autopsy, a pathologist found evidence of a sexual assault by one of the two unknown suspects in the car, police said.
A year after the murder, investigators followed dozens of leads and tracked down dozens of cars that matched the witness’ description. Police said they found more than 40 suspects over the years and questioned at least six suspects.
In April 2023, investigators submitted evidence related to Wolfe’s sexual assault to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab, where it was evaluated by forensic experts and found suitable for investigation, police said.
In February, Austin police received test results that created a male profile of the suspect and ruled out the six suspects whose genetic match did not match the evidence police had, police said.
Police then entered the profile into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which maintains local, state and national databases containing DNA profiles of convicted criminals, evidence from unsolved crime scenes and missing persons, police said.
In March, Austin police received notification of a possible match in Massachusetts, where Brewer is currently incarcerated on other charges, police said.
Investigators conducted a brief interview with Brewer, in which he said he was in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, at the time of the murder, police said. Brewer demanded his right to an attorney when he was told DNA had been found at the crime scene, police said.
After conducting a DNA comparison, a court in Austin found sufficient suspicion to charge Brewer with the murder of Wolfe, police said.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
