A man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of his classmate almost 50 years on following advances in DNA testing.
Dawn Momohara was 16 years old and a student at McKinley High School in Honolulu when she was found murdered on March 21, 1977. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Now 66, Gideon Gastro has been arrested at a care home in Utah and charged with second-degree murder, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Lieutenant Deena Thoemmes explained that modern DNA testing methods allowed authorities to link Gastro to the crime in a way that was not possible in 1977.
The day before her death, Momohara received a phone call from an unknown man. Later, she told her mother she planned to visit a shopping center with friends.
The following morning, her body was discovered at the school campus, but detectives were unable to identify a suspect.
Over the years, police released a composite sketch and details of a possible suspect vehicle in the hope of generating leads. In 2019, a re-examination of the evidence, specifically, a pair of blue shorts and underwear, yielded a DNA profile found on the victim’s clothing.
This breakthrough eventually led investigators to Gastro, who is now in custody in Salt Lake County, Utah, and awaiting extradition to Honolulu.
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