Cigarette leads authorities to solve cold case over 50 years later

BURLINGTON, Vt. (CNN) – After more than 50 years, a cold case murder in Vermont has been solved with the help of DNA technology and genealogy.

Rita Curran, 24, was strangled to death in 1971, and a cigarette was left beside her body.

In 2019, DNA from that cigarette was linked to a man named William Deroos.

Burlington police say Deroos lived in an apartment two floors above Curran at the time of the murder.

When questioned by police in 1971, Deroos and his wife said they were together that night, which gave him an alibi.

His wife later told police Deroos told her to say that since he feared he would be named a suspect due to his criminal history.

The Burlington Police Department now says it is “unanimously certain” Deroos murdered Curran.

Deroos died of a drug overdose in 1986.

Police say the cold case is now closed.