INVESTIGATORS CLOSER TO KILLER IN '89 SLAYING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993                   TAG: 9304120082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ORANGE                                LENGTH: Short
INVESTIGATORS CLOSER TO KILLER IN '89 SLAYING
Four years after Ethyl S. Kidd's body was found tied to a tree, authorities say they may be closer to solving the bizarre slaying.
Investigators believe the killer lived in the same rural area of Orange County where Kidd, 61, lived and may still live nearby.
And investigators say they have new evidence in the case, although they will not reveal it.
All the old evidence, including the woman's clothing, is being re-evaluated to see whether DNA tests can be done, said Sheriff Bill Spence. Spence said results of such tests, which match genetic fingerprints in body fluids left at crime scenes, could lead to an arrest.
The killing drew wide attention because of the bizarre nature of the abduction.
Police believes Kidd was forced from her home on April 12, 1988. Money, car keys and other valuables were left inside.
Eight days later a hunter found her fully clothed body bound upright to a tree off a remote logging road about five miles from her home.
She had been strangled with a cotton drapery cord and sexually assaulted, according to a state medical examiner.
Keywords:
FATALITY

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB