NJ NJ - Donna Macho, 19, disappeared 26 Feb 1984 E. Windsor Twp., remains found 1995 *DNA match from victim's bedroom, suspect died in prison 2020*

[ifindedout]

Authorities: Man Who Died in Prison Killed NJ Woman in 1984

Authorities say DNA evidence has proven that a man who died in prison several years ago was responsible for the 1984 murder of 19-year-old Donna Macho of New Jersey.

www.nbcphiladelphia.com

The state attorney general and the Mercer County prosecutor's office last week announced what they called “the conclusive identification” of Nathaniel Harvey, formerly of East Windsor, as the person responsible for the sexual assault and murder of Donna Macho.

Macho, 19, went missing from the East Windsor home where she resided with her parents and sisters on or about Feb. 26, 1984. A Boy Scout troop leader found her skeletal remains in a wooded area in Cranbury on April 2, 1995, and her identity was confirmed by dental records.

Around the time she disappeared, Harvey was arrested in several sexual assaults as well as an unrelated murder. Authorities said he was identified early on as a possible suspect in Macho's murder “but investigative leads dissipated and the case went cold.”

“During the commission of his crimes, prosecutors say Harvey typically entered unlocked homes, where he would hold captive and rape young women,” authorities alleged.

 

[dotr]

DNA solves "decades-old mystery" in murder of New Jersey woman whose body was found in 1995 by Boy Scout troop leader

Julie Burger, who was 14 when her older sister disappeared, said that the case "destroyed my family, the searching, the looking, the wondering."

www.cbsnews.com

"I'm glad the case is closed, and it was him," she told the outlet. "But I feel he got away with it."

Attorney General Platkin commended all of the agencies that worked together to crack the cold case.

"By sharing personnel, expertise, and technological resources, the Central Regional Cold Case Task Force took a fresh look at this decades-old mystery and identified the suspect in this horrific crime,"


''Nathaniel Harvey died in a state prison in 2020 at the age of 70. He was awaiting his third trial in the killing of a woman in 1985. Authorities now say they connected him to another cold case murder. (Star-Ledger file photo)''

 

[Betty P]

The state attorney general and the Mercer County prosecutor's office last week announced what they called “the conclusive identification” of Nathaniel Harvey, formerly of East Windsor, as the person responsible for the sexual assault and murder of Donna Macho.

Macho, 19, went missing from the East Windsor home where she resided with her parents and sisters on or about Feb. 26, 1984. A Boy Scout troop leader found her skeletal remains in a wooded area in Cranbury on April 2, 1995, and her identity was confirmed by dental records.

Around the time she disappeared, Harvey was arrested in several sexual assaults as well as an unrelated murder. Authorities said he was identified early on as a possible suspect in Macho's murder “but investigative leads dissipated and the case went cold.”

“During the commission of his crimes, prosecutors say Harvey typically entered unlocked homes, where he would hold captive and rape young women,” authorities alleged.

At least he was imprisoned since 1985, though its small consolation for Donna's family. The linked article quotes her younger sister saying the family spent all their money on private detectives, psychics, etc. trying to find Donna. Very sad.