Wedding DJ Arrested for Brutal 1992 Murder

Cops got his DNA from a water bottle after a gig
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 26, 2018 6:19 AM CDT
Wedding DJ Arrested for Brutal 1992 Murder
Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman announces charges in a 1992 cold case killing during a news conference at the Lancaster County Courthouse in Lancaster, Pa., Monday, June 25, 2018. A family photo of the victim, Christy Mirack, is seen at right.   (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)

In 1992, Pennsylvania woman Christy Mirack was raped and murdered as she left her home for her job teaching sixth grade at Rohrerstown Elementary School. On Monday, a 49-year-old wedding DJ was arrested for the crime on the basis of DNA evidence collected from an event at another elementary school. Lancaster District Attorney Craig Stedman says Raymond "DJ Freez" Rowe was identified as a suspect with the help of a DNA sample a relative uploaded to genealogy website GEDmatch.com, People reports. Stedman says Rowe was placed under surveillance and undercover investigators collected his DNA from used chewing gum and a water bottle after he DJed at an event at Smoketown Elementary School. That DNA matched evidence collected from the crime scene.

"The killer was at liberty for this brutal crime longer than Christy Mirack was on this earth alive," Stedman says. "His apprehension was long overdue." Mirack's body was found when her principal went to her home after she didn't show up at work on Dec. 21, 1992, Lancaster Online reports. Stedman says she was sexually assaulted, beaten, and strangled. Her jaw was broken and there were signs she had struggled with her attacker. More than 1,600 people were interviewed during the investigation, but Rowe, who was 24 at the time of the murder, was not on authorities' radar, Stedman says. Rowe is being held without bail and authorities are expected to seek the death penalty. His website states that he has DJed at weddings, proms, concerts—and even fundraisers for groups fighting violence against women. (More cold cases stories.)

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