Milwaukee Police Department Office of Media and Communications
Oct. 27 - The successes continue for the Milwaukee Police Department’s Homicide Cold Case Unit with an announcement today from Chief Edward A. Flynn that a DNA sample has led to the clearance of a 1989 homicide in Milwaukee.
Rita D. Scott was killed on September 15, 1989 on the city’s north side. Her murder went unsolved for 20 years until the Milwaukee Police Homicide Cold Case Unit resubmitted DNA samples during their investigation into a number of unsolved homicides of women in Milwaukee. Detectives from the unit resubmitted the DNA evidence in January 2009 and in May, a match was found between the submitted profile and Illinois serial killer Lorenzo Fayne.
Fayne is currently serving five life sentences at the Menard Correctional Institution in Chester, Illinois for the killing of five children in the early 1990s. Fayne was on Death Row until his sentence was commuted by former Illinois Governor George Ryan.
“I am proud of the work of the Milwaukee Police Homicide Cold Case Unit in bringing to justice those criminals who may have stopped looking over their shoulder,” Chief Flynn said. “Just because justice is delayed doesn’t mean it is forever denied.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said of the unit, “This case again demonstrates how we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring justice to victims and their families.”
The Unit gained international attention in September when Chief Flynn announced that the unit had identified and arrested serial killer Walter Ellis after connecting his DNA profile to the deaths of nine women over 21 years. Ellis has been charged in seven of those homicides.
The Unit has submitted evidence in about 70 cold case homicides to the State Crime Lab and is awaiting results on about 20 of those cases. The Milwaukee Homicide Cold Case Unit continues its work to provide closure to families who have waited years for solace in the death of their loved ones.
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