A fugitive killed in a shootout with authorities in Ohio last month was identified Monday as the suspect in the decades-old unsolved murder of an 18-year-old woman.
New DNA testing established evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that James Vanest, 68, was responsible for the April 29, 1981, murder of 18-year-old Debra Miller, the Mansfield Police Department said in a statement. press release.
Miller, a waitress, was beaten to death with an oven rack in her apartment, the Associated Press reported.
Vanest, who lived in the unit above Miller, was questioned at the time of the murder but was never considered a suspect, the department said.
In 2021, the department reopened the case and conducted an analysis using advanced DNA techniques that linked genetic material found in “numerous” tests to Vanest, the department said.
After an interview with a Mansfield detective that year, the investigator believed Vanest was trying to create an alibi by justifying the presence of his DNA in the apartment, according to the release.
During an interview with the same investigator this year, Vanest said he believed the detective was trying to build a case against him, according to the statement.
Vanest declined to speak further and asked for an attorney, the department said.
Weeks later, Vanest sold his home in Canton, about 65 miles east of Mansfield, bought a pickup truck and moved to West Virginia, the department said. After authorities in that state stopped Vanest and found him in possession of two guns, he was arrested and jailed on state charges, then charged in connection with federal firearms crimes, the department said.
Vanest posted bail and returned to Ohio, where a shooting broke out at a Canton-area hotel on Nov. 18 as local and federal authorities attempted to serve him with the indictment, according to the statement.
The North Canton Police Department said Vanest, identified only as a fugitive in a Nov. 19 news release, barricaded himself inside a hotel room and opened fire, hitting a member of the department’s SWAT unit in his arm. .
Vanest died in the shooting, the department said.
“This is a sad and tragic case,” Mansfield’s news release states. “While closure of this case does not bring Debra back or replace the last 43 years, we hope her family can now have some closure.”
