BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas --
Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk announced that James Otto Earhart was the prime suspect in the 1981 murder of local realtor Virginia Freeman. He was a resident of Brazos County at the time of the murder.
Earhart was executed in 1999 for another crime, the kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Kandy Kirtland in 1987.
Sheriff Kirk says the information comes from DNA that was analyzed for ancestry information. A DNA database found second cousins and great grandparents of the suspect, which is how suspect was identified.
The DNA was then matched to Earhart's son, called a confirmed parent-child match. Sheriff Kirk called this "clear" evidence that Earhart killed Virginia Freeman.
No DNA results were collected from Earhart, which prevents a 100% match.