TOWSON, Maryland () 鈥� Forty years after the murder of a Halethorpe teen, Baltimore County police have identified her killer.
The police department said Wednesday that cold case detectives have determined John Anthony Petrecca, Jr., who died in 2000, was responsible for the 1981 murder of 13-year-old Heather Porter.
鈥淎s a result of advances in forensic technology, Heather Porter鈥檚 family members now know the identity of the person who took their loved ones life,鈥� the agency said. 鈥淭he Baltimore County Police Department would like to thank Bode Technology, the Hackerman Foundation and the FBI for their expert analysis, assistance and support in solving this cold case.鈥�
Porter鈥檚 body was found in the woods near Ridgewood Road and Goucher Boulevard in Towson on Sept. 24, 1981, a day after she went missing from her Halethorpe neighborhood. An autopsy found she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Though investigators had some of the suspect鈥檚 DNA, the homicide case turned cold and went unsolved for four decades. It wasn鈥檛 until last year that detectives gave Porter鈥檚 killing a second look.
The suspect鈥檚 DNA was sent off lab testing and the results were provided to the FBI.
In February, police zeroed in on Petrecca as a possible suspect. A search of his criminal background found he had multiple rape arrests over the years, and police determined that he lived near the area where Porter was last seen alive.
After getting permission to exhume Petrecca鈥檚 remains from a local cemetery, police sent his DNA off for lab testing. The results showed it was a match for Porter鈥檚 killer.
