Quebec police identify killer in 1975 cold case murder of teen

Canadian police said Tuesday they have solved one of the highest-profile cold cases in Quebec history.

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100% certain that Franklin Maywood Romine murdered 16-year-old Sharron Prior in 1975.

The body of Romine, who died in 1982 at the age of 36, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing intended to confirm his link to the crime.

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Longueuil police say the DNA of Romine — who had a long criminal history — matches a sample found at the murder scene. He also matched a witness’ physical description of the suspect.

The rape and killing of Prior had gone unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after setting out to meet friends at a pizza parlor near her home in Montreal’s Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood.

Her body was found three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal’s South Shore.