Police use DNA to link Harry Edward Greenwell, who had Iowa ties, to cold case killings in Indiana, Kentucky
For decades, the identity of an elusive figure, dubbed the “Days Inn” and “I-65” killer, evaded police as investigators tried to solve the slayings of three women in Indiana and Kentucky in the late 1980s.
Tuesday, law enforcement officials said they’ve solved the case.
Indiana State Police, with several federal and local agencies, said investigators have determined that Harry Edward Greenwell, who is now deceased, was responsible for the rapes and murders of Vicki Heath, Margaret “Peggy” Gill and Jeanne Gilbert. The women worked as clerks in motels along the I-65 corridor.
Investigators have also linked him through DNA analysis to a sexual assault of a woman in 1990 in Columbus, Indiana.
What Was Harry Edward Greenwell cause Of Death?
Greenwell died of cancer in Iowa in 2013 at age 68.
“There are detectives in this very room that have been involved in this in some form or another for literally generations,” said Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter. “I hope today might bring a little bit of solace to know that the animal who did this is no longer on this Earth.”
On Tuesday, law enforcement officials said they had resolved the case.
Investigators also linked him to the sexual assault of a woman in Columbus, Indiana, in 1990 through DNA analysis.
Tuesday’s announcement ended the assault and murder of the woman. However, police noted there was a “clear possibility” that Greenwell was linked to more unsolved cases. Detectives continue to investigate whether Greenwell, a Kentucky native, is involved in other violent crimes in the Midwest, Indiana State Police Sheriff Glenn Fairfield said.
Gilbert’s daughter Kim Wright said the family may never know why their relatives suffered a terrible fate, but the revelation of the killer’s identity offered some comfort.
“I would like to believe that whether each of us defines justice or we may each define end, now that we know the high-profile attacker is out of jail, we can all share that the healing process goes dark and into the light,” lawyer Lai said. Te said.
The revelation of the Days Inn killer’s identity ends an investigation spanning more than 30 years. The hunt for the killer began in 1987, when Heath, 41, was found attacked and shot dead in the back of a Super 8 motel in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
In 1989, two other women fell victim to the killer.
Gill, a 24-year-old residential investigator at the Days Inn Merrillville, was sexually assaulted and killed in the early hours of March 3.
That same night, a strikingly similar attack took place at another Days Inn dozens of miles away. Gilbert, a part-time auditor at the Remington motel, was attacked. A motorist saw the body of the 34-year-old man on the side of the road in White County. Both women were shot dead by the same .22-caliber pistol, police said.
Police said DNA collected at the Heath crime scene was linked to Gilbert’s death.
DNA also allowed the same attacker to sexually assault an employee at the Days Inn in Columbus, Indiana, in 1990. In this case, the employee escaped and was able to vividly describe the attacker, leading police to widely publicize the suspect’s sketch.
Police said Tuesday that the DNA match to Greenwell was made by a close relative with a 99.99 percent chance of returning.
Greenwell’s criminal history is detailed in a handout issued to reporters by police. In 1963, he was sentenced to two years in a correctional institution and five years of probation for an armed robbery in Kentucky. Two years later, police arrested him for bestiality. Greenwell was released from Kentucky State Prison in 1969.
He is serving time in Iowa for theft. Police say he escaped and was caught twice. The prison released him in 1983.
Five years later, an investigation into the Days Inn killer begins.
Police attribute the major breakthrough in the case to “investigating the family tree”. Significant improvements in DNA technology over the years have contributed to their ability to use this approach, they say.
Elizabethtown Police Deputy Commissioner David Feigat said: “I just hope that the efforts this organisation has made will somehow bring the family and friends of Miss Heath and all the victims’ representatives to close down long overdue.”