Gardener1850
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May 8, 2019
The murder of a woman whose body was discovered on a Lake Tahoe hiking trail remained unsolved for 37 years — until now.
On Tuesday, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam announced that a woman known only as "Sheep's Flat Jane Doe" has been identified as Mary Silvani, who was 33 when she was shot to death in 1982 off the Mt. Rose Highway.
Forensic genealogists identified Silvani and her killer, James Richard Curry, using decades-old DNA evidence recovered from a rape kit. Curry committed suicide in 1983 while in jail on another murder charge.
...
Balaam said Curry, Silvani's killer, was born in Texas in 1946. He served time in prison for robbery before moving to California in 1977.
Six years later, he was arrested for the murders of Gerald Novoselatz, 39, and his wife, Sharon, 34, according to a 1983 report published by The San Francisco Examiner.
Curry, then 36, managed a storage lot in Santa Clara. He admitted killing the couple, who owned a rival storage facility in San Jose. He shot and killed Gerald Novoselatz and then kidnapped and raped Sharon Novoselatz.
The San Francisco Examiner also reported Curry confessed to murdering his 38-year-old friend, Richard Lemmon Jr., whose body was found inside a wooden crate.
Investigators in California also linked him to a fourth murder victim, James DeWitt Robinson. Robinson's handgun, legal documents, and checkbooks were discovered in a locker at Curry's storage facility, but his body was never recovered.
"Shortly right after that, he committed suicide … that's why he was never fully charged in those cases," Bishop said. "We were never able to link how (Silvani and Curry) knew each other."
How DNA solved a decades-old case of woman found murdered near Lake Tahoe
Sheep's Flat Doe/Mary Silvani's Thread: Identified! - NV - Washoe Co., WhtFem 156UFNV, 25-35, Sheep's Flat Trail, Jul'82 Mary Edith Silvani
Please help find more info about James DeWitt Robinson.
The murder of a woman whose body was discovered on a Lake Tahoe hiking trail remained unsolved for 37 years — until now.
On Tuesday, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam announced that a woman known only as "Sheep's Flat Jane Doe" has been identified as Mary Silvani, who was 33 when she was shot to death in 1982 off the Mt. Rose Highway.
Forensic genealogists identified Silvani and her killer, James Richard Curry, using decades-old DNA evidence recovered from a rape kit. Curry committed suicide in 1983 while in jail on another murder charge.
...
Balaam said Curry, Silvani's killer, was born in Texas in 1946. He served time in prison for robbery before moving to California in 1977.
Six years later, he was arrested for the murders of Gerald Novoselatz, 39, and his wife, Sharon, 34, according to a 1983 report published by The San Francisco Examiner.
Curry, then 36, managed a storage lot in Santa Clara. He admitted killing the couple, who owned a rival storage facility in San Jose. He shot and killed Gerald Novoselatz and then kidnapped and raped Sharon Novoselatz.
The San Francisco Examiner also reported Curry confessed to murdering his 38-year-old friend, Richard Lemmon Jr., whose body was found inside a wooden crate.
Investigators in California also linked him to a fourth murder victim, James DeWitt Robinson. Robinson's handgun, legal documents, and checkbooks were discovered in a locker at Curry's storage facility, but his body was never recovered.
"Shortly right after that, he committed suicide … that's why he was never fully charged in those cases," Bishop said. "We were never able to link how (Silvani and Curry) knew each other."
How DNA solved a decades-old case of woman found murdered near Lake Tahoe
Sheep's Flat Doe/Mary Silvani's Thread: Identified! - NV - Washoe Co., WhtFem 156UFNV, 25-35, Sheep's Flat Trail, Jul'82 Mary Edith Silvani
Please help find more info about James DeWitt Robinson.
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