DELRAY BEACH, Florida (AP). The man, long believed to be interested in the murder of a 21-year-old South Florida woman, was arrested 38 years later, officials said.
Ralph Williams, 59, was arrested Monday in Jacksonville and charged with the death of Carla Lowe, whose battered body was found on the side of a road on November 13, 1983, Delray Beach police said Tuesday.
Lowe was last seen waiting for a train at Amtrak Station in Delray Beach, South Florida SunSentinel reported.
The detectives said they searched the area for several hours, but never found anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious.
On the same day her body was found, Delray Beach police arrested Williams on charges of car theft and burglary, records show.
Williams has a criminal record of over 20 arrests across Florida on charges including burglary; resistance to an officer with the use of violence; robbery with firearms or lethal weapons; the sale, production or delivery of heroin and marijuana; and possession of burglary tools.
Williams’ attorney was not listed in the court records.
Sister Lowe told the newspaper that the family was “forever indebted” to Lieutenant Mark Woods and Detective Todd Clancy for shutting down something.
“I’ve played this in my head a thousand times,” said Jackie Lowe-Repass. “I never thought that this day would come. Now there is the name of the one who did this to my sister. “
Clancy said that over the years, there was never enough evidence of a probable reason for Williams’ arrest in connection with the death of Carla Lowe. But new technology from a company based in the United Kingdom later allowed them to identify Williams’ fingerprint on the evidence at the scene, Sergeant. Luis Skeberis said. He did not go into details.
