A 25-year mystery may have finally been solved in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Raymond Charles Rowe, 49, has been charged with the rape and murder of former school teacher Christy Mirack. Rowe, who works as a deejay under the name "DJ Freez," was arrested on Monday. Fox News reports that cold case investigators used a genealogical website in order to match Rowe's DNA with a sample taken from the 1992 crime scene.

The use of genealogical websites to identify suspected killers is becoming an increasingly popular method of detection. This same method was used earlier this year in order to name 72-year-old Joseph DeAngelo as the infamous Golden State Killer.

Now, according to the district attorney's office for Lancaster County, this same method helped them to solve one of Pennsylvania's nastiest cold cases.

District Attorney, Craig Stedman, on Monday, June 25 said that Rowe's crime needed to be solved and that justice had been delayed for too many years. Steadman's office reportedly interviewed some sixty men and tested their blood types in order to see if they were a match for the blood sample left at the crime scene. Ultimately, the website GEDmatch broke the case. This is the exact same site that was used to capture DeAngelo earlier this spring.

Terrible crime

According to the magazine People, Mirack was just 25-years-old when she was brutally murdered.

At that time she was a sixth-grade teacher at Rohrerstown Elementary School. On December 21, 1992, the school's principal went to Mirack's home because he was worried about why Mirack did not show up to work that day. The principal was the first to find Mirack's corpse.

Mirack had been strangled to death, but prior to expiring, she had received a terrible beating from her tormentor.

Investigators found that most of Mirack's clothes had been pushed below her waist, while her shirt had been pushed up towards her head. It was also confirmed at the scene that Mirack's killer had at one point dragged her during a struggle between the two.

Finding Rowe

People claims that Rowe had been under police surveillance since May 2018.

The DNA sample that led to Rowe's arrest was obtained by police officers who removed chewing gum and a water bottle that Rowe had used while working as a deejay at an elementary school event. This sample was then sent to Virginia company Parabon NanoLabs, who in turn created multiple composite sketches of the suspect based on his DNA.

Rowe is currently being held in the Lancaster County Prison. He is not eligible for bail.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED