For nearly four decades, the murder of 30-year-old Rhonda Marie Fisher in the foothills outside Denver remained unresolved.
A passing motorist discovered Fisher's body on April 1, 1987, at the bottom of an embankment in rural Douglas County, south of Colorado capital. However, despite the presence of suspects, the killer was never found.
Now Douglas County police say they have identified the gunman as “one of Colorado's most prolific serial killers” based on 38-year-old DNA found inside a paper bag.
County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday What cold case Investigators have found a match with convicted killer Vincent Darrell Groves, who is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and possibly more than 20.
Groves stalked numerous women between 1978 and 1988, both before and after serving a five-year sentence for second-degree murder. He was eventually jailed for good in 1990, but died of liver failure in prison in 1996.
Left: Rhonda Marie Fisher. Right: Vincent Groves (Douglas County Sheriff's Office)
“While Vincent Groves cannot be prosecuted in court, we hope this long-awaited resolution will bring answers and some peace to the family and friends of Rhonda Fisher,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekley.
“This case is a testament to our commitment to seeking justice for every victim—no matter how much time has passed.”
According to police, Fisher was last seen in Denver the night before her death, walking north on Monaco Street toward Leetsdale Dr. Her body showed signs of sexual assault and strangulation.
Investigators initially suspected one of several acquaintances she had been staying with over the past few weeks, but ultimately cleared them of suspicion. Investigations into several known killers have found no connection, as has a new round of DNA testing in 2017.
But the sheriff's office's cold case unit reopened the case earlier this year. According to local TV channel 9NEWS.The new investigators realized that one piece of evidence had never been tested: paper bags placed on Fisher's hands by the first crime scene coroner, which were intended to preserve her body for later analysis.
“DNA was not a science that was given much attention or even known in 1987,” one Douglas County detective told 9NEWS. “It was very, very new and the coroner wouldn't have done it for that purpose, but fortunately they did it.”
DNA on the inside of the paper bags matched that of Vincent Groves, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1982 and paroled in 1987.
Within a month, he attempted to kill a sex worker and soon became an active strangler of young women. He was eventually sentenced to life in prison in 1990, in what sheriffs said was one of the “very first successful uses of DNA evidence in Colorado courts.”
“Obtaining a viable DNA profile from nearly four-decade-old paper bags is exceptionally rare and highlights the extreme value of careful evidence preservation and periodic forensic testing,” the sheriff's office said.
