A suspect has been identified in connection with the murder of a Maryland teen more than five decades ago thanks to advancements in DNA technology, CBS Baltimore reports.
On Friday, police in Anne Arundel County linked Forrest Clyde Williams III to the death of 16-year-old Pamela Lynn Conyers, who was found dead on October 16, 1970.
Just before she died, Conyers had spent time at a bonfire and pep rally at Glen Burnie High School and then drove her family car to the Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie. That is the last place she was seen alive.
Four days later, Conyers’ body was found in a wooded median near Millersville, Maryland. Investigators determined that she died from homicide caused by strangulation, according to WBAL-TV. The family vehicle was also found in the vicinity.
Police do not believe that Williams had been in contact with Conyers before the killing. He had moved to the county from Virginia as a teen and went to a different high school.
Williams was reportedly arrested multiple times for non-violent offenses in the early 1970s. He died in 2018 in Virginia, but if he were still alive, authorities said he would be charged in connection with Conyers’ death.
“If he were still alive, he would have been charged with the murder of Pamela Conyers,” Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad told reporters at a news conference, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities are considering the possibility that other people played a role in murdering Conyers.
Investigators from the FBI found Williams using genetic genealogy, which uses DNA in genetic databases to identify relatives of unknown suspects. Williams has two children, the AP reports.
Michael Golden, who went to high school with Conyers, said the case has been seared in his memory even though he did not know his classmate well.
“I remember that Monday morning. I had trigonometry class with her. Seeing her empty desk really brought it home,” Golden told CBS Baltimore.
”It’s something all of our classmates have been struggling with all these years.”
He added: “I still mourn her death. I got to be old; she didn’t. She’s forever 16.”
To report information about the case, call the Anne Arundel County Police Department at 410-222-4731.
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[Featured image: Venissa Maldonado/Police Handout]
