The 1976 rape and murder of a Modesto, Calif., woman has been solved, the Modesto Police Department and the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
A first-degree murder charge in the death of Florence Millard has been filed against Buddy Ray Gary, an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
On Aug. 30, 1976, the 81-year-old Millard was attacked and left to die in her home in the 600 block of Third Street in Modesto. Evidence at the scene suggested that Millard had been beaten and sexually assaulted. Millard was a widow and lived alone. She died from her injuries Sept. 11, 1976.
Detectives had few leads in the case and it remained unsolved for over 30 years.
However, detective Craig Grogan, who handles several of police department’s “Cold Cases,” recently had the U.S. Department of Justice test evidence that had been seized at the crime scene in 1976. The test linked the evidence to Gary, a convicted felon whose DNA had been submitted to the state's database of felony offenders after his last conviction.
Read the full story at modbee.com