OH- Debra Lee Miller, 18, waitress, brutally murdered, 29 April, '81, Mansfield, Dna, suspect- James Vanest, 68, *fatally shot by LE, 2024*

[dotr]

Man shot to death at Stark County motel linked to 1981 homicide in Mansfield

Mansfield police have solved a 43-year-old cold case homicide after the suspect was shot to death in Stark County.

www.cantonrep.com

rbbm Dec '24
''Debra Lee Miller, 18, a waitress at the former Mr. T's Coffee Shop, was found brutally murdered in her apartment on April 29, 1981.

Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann on Monday said she was killed by the late James Vanest, who lived above Miller during the night of the homicide. Vanest had been questioned during the initial investigation but was never identified as a suspect.

"The DNA evidence collected from multiple items, when analyzed alongside the findings in Mansfield police detective Terry Butler's investigation, establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Vanest committed the murder of Debra Miller on April 29, 1981," Bammann said. "Because of this, we now consider the case closed.''

''In 2013, John Allen, who was Richland County prosecutor from 1979 to 1988, said the weapon used to kill Miller was a burner grate from a gas stove.

Retired Mansfield police officer John Hurlow, who worked on the Miller case, previously told the News Journal it was one of the most gruesome scenes he ever worked on.''

''On Nov. 18, Vanest, 68, was fatally shot after he fired at authorities with the U.S. Marshals Service and Canton Regional SWAT team at the Rodeway Inn in Jackson Township.''

 

[dotr]

Suspect killed by police in shootout linked by DNA to 1981 cold-case murder

Debra Lee Miller, 18, was found murdered in her Ohio apartment on April 29, 1981

www.independent.co.uk

''Vanest, who was 25 years old and living in the same apartment building as Miller at the time of the killing, had been questioned during the initial investigation but was never identified as a suspect.

DNA evidence that was collected from the scene had been carefully preserved in storage for the past four decades. It showed the level of brutality and how hard Miller fought for her life, investigators said.

“We were looking at things that the victim was bound up with. We were looking at bodily fluids, including the blood that was found there,” Richland County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Brown said during a press conference on Monday. “We also talked about what we perceived to be the murder weapons, which in this case were pots, pans and oven grates.”

 

[arielilane]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who was shot dead last month as authorities attempted to serve him an indictment on federal gun charges has been identified as the killer of an 18-year-old Ohio woman in a case that had gone unsolved for 43 years, police announced Monday.

The killing of an 18-year-old Ohio woman was solved with DNA technology after 43 years

A man who was shot dead last month as authorities attempted to serve him an indictment on federal gun charges has been identified as the killer of an 18-year-old Ohio woman in a case that had gone unsolved for 43 years, police announced Monday. Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said the cold...

www.yahoo.com

December 31, 2024

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A police shootout led authorities in Ohio to solve a cold case murder from 1981.

Swat police and U.S. Marshals swarmed a motel room near North Canton last month.

The man inside died after investigators said he barricaded himself inside and started a gunfight while a warrant was being served on federal gun charges.

He was identified as James Vanest, according to Mansfield police.

Police said he is also responsible for the murder of 18-year-old Deborah Lee Miller in Mansfield in 1981

Killer identified in 1981 cold case of woman's brutal homicide after police shootout in Ohio

A police shootout led authorities to solve a 1981 cold case murder of an 18-year-old woman.

6abc.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The suspected killer died in November 2024 during a shootout with police in Stark County, and recordings of police interviews in the files reveal the suspect knew that investigators were closing in on the truth

https://fox8.com/news/police-files-how-detectives-tracked-down-suspect-in-mansfield-cold-case/