After 61 years of investigation suspect identified in brutal rape and murder of Albany woman in 1964, authorities said Wednesday.
Katherine BlackburnThe 50-year-old woman was found dead in her Colony Street home on September 13 of that year. She was beaten, stabbed and sexually assaulted, and her corpse was mutilated, police said. But for the next six decades, no suspects were identified.
But on Wednesday, Albany police said the DNA was linked. Joseph Nowakowskilocal resident who died in 1998, before the murder.
“Sixty-one years ago, evil entered my aunt’s house and changed our lives forever,” said Blackburn’s niece Sandy Carmichael. who found her body in 1964This was stated at a press conference. “We prayed for this day. To everyone who made this possible, God bless you.”
Police said key evidence was a handkerchief found under Blackburn's body at the scene. DNA from the sperm on the tissue matched Novakovsky's sperm, whose body was exhumed as part of the investigation.
Before his death, Nowakowski was serving time behind bars for another violent incident. In 1973 he attacked a 74-year-old woman with an ax while she slept, and served seven years in prison before her release in 1980.
Prior to the ax attack, Nowakowski was also charged with several burglaries in and around Albany. After his release he had no further run-ins with the law on the eve of his death in 1998.
With news services
