DNA technology helps solve 1980 murder of Eve Wilkowitz on Long Island

BAY SHORE, N.Y. — Cutting-edge DNA technologies served address a 42-12 months-old cold situation murder on Long Island.

Wednesday, the loved ones of a younger woman murdered many years ago obtained their 1st seem at images of the man who killed her. As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff studies, they are grateful for very long-sought responses.

It was a 1980 tragedy and thriller. 20-yr-old Eve Wilkowitz was going for walks dwelling from the Bay Shore teach station following returning from her position as a secretary in Manhattan. She was kidnapped and observed days later, raped and strangled. Her murder was unsolved right up until now.

“We solved the 42-yr-aged homicide circumstance of Eve Wilkowitz  … The perpetrator of that crime, a Herbert Rice, who is deceased,” Suffolk County District Legal professional Ray Tierney announced Wednesday.

Her sister, Irene Wilkowitz, is overcome with relief.

“I nevertheless won’t be able to think I listened to those terms, ‘We have discovered the human being accountable for the demise of Eve,'” she mentioned.

Tierney calls it a examine in persistence and perseverance. Police retained DNA from the crime and around the decades continued to evaluate it to prison databases. Lastly, with new know-how and entry to general public DNA databases, they discovered a relative’s match. They obtained a sample from a cooperating relative of Rice and exhumed Rice’s system, confirming a match.

“This is my first time observing him. I failed to Google him even even though I realized his title for a pair of months now. I didn’t want to see the very last confront that Eve saw although she was nonetheless alive,” Wilkowitz mentioned.

It truly is a smaller evaluate of closure for a household and relentless detectives.

“A lot of actually, truly dogged investigators doing work collaboratively with the help of an unbelievable family members,” Tierney claimed.

“Irene … who never ever missing faith in our investigators’ dedication,” Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison mentioned.

Rice died of cancer in 1991. Prosecutors consider it was a criminal offense of prospect. He was residing on the block where by Eve Wilkowitz was kidnapped and her overall body dumped.

“Mainly she favored remaining a major sister to me. She never ever obtained a likelihood to satisfy her dreams,” Irene Wilkowitz said. “I’ve lived these final 42 years worried all the time that I was going to be killed following.”

This is initial time a DNA match from a general public databases has solved a Suffolk murder situation. The victim’s sister is  hoping it can assistance other people. She and prosecutors thank Rice’s relations in serving to to fix this situation.

Prosecutors said they do not think Rice was accountable for any other murders.