CANADA Canada - Sharron Prior, 16, Point St Charles QC, 29 Mar 1975

[Richard]

Sharron Prior age 16 Murdered 29 March 1975

LINKS:

Sharron Prior

Sharron Prior was a beautiful 16 year old blonde from Point St-Charles, Quebec. Sharron was last seen March 29 1975 going to Marina's Pizz...

quebecunsolvedmurders.blogspot.com

Sharron Prior and the “Chateauguay Killer” (Part 2)

I grew up on the island of Montreal in a neighborhood very similar to Chateauguay. New suburbs right on the frontier of development. Mixed neighborhoods, French and English. Pierrefonds was bo…

theresaallore.com

 

[Gina20]

From the second link, John Allore was responding to readers in January of this year. He almost lived long enough to learn who killed Sharron Prior. So close!

 

[dotr]

May 22 2023

Police solve 1975 murder of Montreal teen Sharron Prior after new DNA evidence

The murder of Montreal teenager Sharron Prior has been solved, 48 years later. Biological tests have 100 per cent confirmed that Franklin Maywood Romine, born on April 2, 1946, was the killer that police had been trying to identify for nearly five decades.

montreal.ctvnews.ca

''Police will give an update of "capital importance" Tuesday on the unsolved murder of Sharron Prior, a teenage girl killed in Montreal in 1975.

The update follows the exhumation of a suspect's body earlier this month in West Virginia.

Franklin Maywood Romine, who died in 1982, was identified as the primary suspect after a new analysis technique uncovered his DNA on Prior's clothing.

"The chief inspector of the Major Crimes Division, Pierre Duquette, will unveil an element of capital importance in this investigation," according to a SPAL press release received Monday.''

''After committing a rape in West Virginia in 1974, Romine reportedly fled to Canada where he is believed to have abducted and murdered Prior.

Shortly after, he was arrested in Montreal on the West Virginia rape and extradited to the U.S''

Police exhumed the body of Franklin Maywood Romine of Putnam County, West Virginia after a Longueuil police (SPAL) investigation found a match with DNA from the 1975 killing of Sharron Prior in Montreal. SOURCE: Noovo

Sharron Prior cold-case murder: Longueuil police to give 'major' update Tuesday

Sharron Prior vanished in 1975 while on her way to a restaurant in Pointe-St-Charles. Her body was found in Longueuil a few days later.

montrealgazette.com

''During their investigation, police learned the man, Franklin Maywood Romine, lived about 10 kilometres from Prior and that someone fitting his description in 1975 had tried to abduct another woman at knifepoint nearby.

A tire track left in the snow close to where Prior’s body was found matched a model of car that Romine bought just two blocks from where she lived.''

 

[DSCrime]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-sharron-prior-murder-update-1.6851664

"Next, police exhumed Romine's body earlier this month and tested his DNA against the DNA left at the crime scene.

Sarah Bourgoin, the director of the biology and DNA department at Quebec's national forensic laboratory, said retrieving a full genetic profile from Romine's bones was a difficult task.

"Happily, here it worked," she said. "We were able to establish a genetic profile by comparing it to the unknown profile in Sharron Prior's case. We remarked that it was identical, which confirmed that it was indeed Franklin Romine who left his DNA at the scene."

Bourgoin said the advances in DNA testing technology and growing databases provide potent tools for law enforcement to use to solve cold cases.

"We have hope that there are lots of cases that we will able to solve or at least find new leads with the tools we have," she said."

 

[Mert]

“On Sunday, Eyewitness News will air a special report at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. that explores Romine's crimes in West Virginia and what police are doing now to see if he could be linked to any unsolved cases in the state.”

DNA testing confirms West Virginia man raped, killed Canadian teen in 1975

Longueuil Police in Canada are set the announce a signifcant updateThis press conference will be of great public interest in the context of this investigation,

wchstv.com

 

[Richard]

Franklin Maywood Romine​

BIRTH 2 Apr 1946
DEATH 20 Aug 1982 (aged 36)
BURIAL: Pine Grove Cemetery Pliny, Putnam County, West Virginia, USA

LINK:

Franklin Maywood Romine (1946-1982) - Find a...

Born on 2 Apr 1946. Died on 20 Aug 1982. Buried in Pliny, West Virginia, USA.

www.findagrave.com

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2023/05/23/un-cold-case-resolu-dautres-a-venir-dit-la-police

 

[JennieM]

Canadian police solve 48-year-old case of teenager’s rape and murder using DNA​

Police say West Virginian who died 40 years ago raped and killed 16-year-old Sharron Prior in a Montreal suburb in 1975

[...]

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100% certain that Franklin Maywood Romine murdered teenager Sharron Prior in the Montreal suburb.

[...]

When Romine’s body was exhumed last month, local prosecutor Mark Sorsaia called the crime against Prior “the most evil element in the human race”.

“It’s a combination of the most evil element in the human race, contacting the most innocent element in the human race – a child,” he told WCHS. “Some things are worse than death – losing a child like that, for a family, for a mom. To know that your child died that way.”

Moreen, left, and Doreen Prior speak about their sister Sharron during a press conference on 23 May 2023 in Longueuil, Quebec. Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

Longueuil police detective Eric Racicot speaks with Sharron Prior’s mother, Yvonne, on 23 May 2023 in Longueuil, Quebec. Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

Canadian police solve 48-year-old case of teenager’s rape and murder using DNA

Police say West Virginian who died 40 years ago raped and killed 16-year-old Sharron Prior in a Montreal suburb in 1975

www.theguardian.com

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Just heard about this. Extremely sad that this family didn't know who committed this heinous crime for so long. Too bad the perp. passed years ago, so he was not able to stand trial for this crime.

In any case, glad they finally solved this very cold case. It makes me hopeful that other old (and newer) cases will eventually be solved.

 

[dotr]

Includes a few more pics of the perp.
May 28 2023

 

[DSCrime]

Includes a few more pics of the perp.
May 28 2023

Thnx @dotr for posting this. Wanted to quote a part of the video where an investigator stated that Romine was a truck driver & ran a route from US to Canada. Here's the article that goes w/ video:

https://wchstv.com/news/local/wva-m...75-being-investigated-in-unsolved-cold-cases#


"My understanding is that, by trade, he was a truck driver and he run a route between Canada and somewhere in the United States," McClung said.

Racicot said Romine was also known to do labor work and was unemployed for extended periods.

 

[dotr]

W.Va. man who killed teen in Canada in '75 being investigated in unsolved cold cases

A man originally from Huntington has officially been connected to one of the most high profile murder cases in Canadian history.

wchstv.com

Franklin Romine was born in Huntington in 1946 and died at the age of 36 in Verdun, Montreal. (Longueuil Police)

West Virginia State Police said they were able to track down an old fingerprint card for Franklin Romine that listed an address near Sharron Prior's home as his residence.

The victim in a 1974 rape trial where Franklin Romine was later convicted testified that Romine told her he would kill her if he had to. (Wood County Circuit Court)

READ THE ARTICLE

 

[evilwise]

I guess we are to presume these were semen samples that were extracted from the clothing and bonds. It's like it's currently considered in poor taste to report that but being vague about it leaves us devil's advocates wondering if it might have just been skin flakes, sweat or something like that which could hypothetically come from incidental contact.

 

[Rush4087]

How did Romine die?

 

[AndrewM71]

How did Romine die?

Montreal police can’t find detailed records.

I would assume the brothers have some idea.

 

[Richard]

His DNA and fingerprints should now be compared to other unsolved crimes before and after the murder of Sharron Prior.

 

[AndrewM71]

His DNA and fingerprints should now be compared to other unsolved crimes before and after the murder of Sharron Prior.

They would have done that prior to identifying him.

 

[dotr]

​

Oct 20, 2023
In 1975, 16-year-old Sharron Prior was kidnapped in Montreal after leaving home to meet her friends at a local pizzeria. Three days later, she was found dead in a wooded area just outside Montreal. Sharron's mom, her sisters, and police investigators hunter her killer for decades.

How a detective used DNA technology to identify a teenage girl's killer, 50 years later

On CTV W5, Noovo Info journalist Marie-Christine Bergeron reveals stunning answers to a decades-old cold case -- the murder of 16-year-old Sharron Prior in 1975 -- blown open by scientific evidence.

www.ctvnews.ca

Maya Hamovitch Oct. 21, 2023

"Since 1975, no one had ever mentioned this name," said Racicot. "And I thought ‘that’s why we’ve been chasing a ghost all this time.’"

He wasn’t the only one chasing a ghost -- Sharron’s mom and sisters had been hunting her killer for decades, looking up names and addresses in telephone books and visiting the addresses they believed might lead them to the killer.

“It’s the fight of my life. I just want the answers. I want to know who did this,” Sharron’s mother, Yvonne Prior, told CTV W5.

Det. Racicot eventually traced the suspect’s last name to an American citizen, the late Franklin Maywood Romine of Putnam County, West Virginia. He was 28 at the time of Prior’s death and started his criminal career at the age of 11.

Racicot said Romine’s criminal record(opens in a new tab) spans from 1955 to 1974 and includes breaking and entering, grand larceny, multiple prison breaks, impaired driving, hit-and-run and rape. The life-long criminal crossed the border into Canada many times and died in 1982 in the Verdun neighborhood of Montreal at the age of 36.

Racicot remained steadfast in his mission to give Prior’s family definitive answers and requested an exhumation on Romine’s body in West Virginia.''

​

 

[eidetic_j]

I guess we are to presume these were semen samples that were extracted from the clothing and bonds. It's like it's currently considered in poor taste to report that but being vague about it leaves us devil's advocates wondering if it might have just been skin flakes, sweat or something like that which could hypothetically come from incidental contact.

The lack of transparency in this 25 years old case strikes me. How did they end up looking at Romine ? In an article it was said they had a last name that popped up after analyzing Sharron’s clothes. Apparently the Montreal’s forensic lab had developed some kind of bank with Y chromosome data that can lead to a last name. Maybe that’s what they used?

In another article the Longueuil police department, when making their case at the hearing for the exhumation on April 6th 2023 in West Virginia, said the perpetrator spoke English and that montreal is very French speaking city. Not entirely false at the moment but in the 60’s 70’s English was everywhere, even local newspapers were in English, business, political life all English.

Like you said I don’t want to get cynical and insensitive but lately in Quebec there’s a lot of pressure for solving cold cases because Quebec have the highest rates of these cases and the lowest rate of solving. Some Montreal police departments have been criticized too for their lack of transparency, police officers refusing to talk to independent investigators looking into their work. The Longueuil department is one on the 5 departments who doesn’t collaborate much apparently.

 

[eidetic_j]

Montreal police can’t find detailed records.

I would assume the brothers have some idea.

Which brothers ?

 

[Richard]

This Cold Case should probably be moved to the solved category.

The big question at this point, is how many other victims of this killer are there?