MANSFIELD ‒ Police have solved a 43-year-old cold case homicide, with the break coming after the killer was shot to death in a Stark County motel last month.
Debra Lee Miller, 18, a waitress at the former Mr. T’s Coffee Shop, was found brutally murdered in her apartment on April 29, 1981.
Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann on Monday said she was killed by the late James Vanest, who lived above Miller during the night of the homicide. Vanest had been questioned during the initial investigation but was never identified as a suspect.
“The DNA evidence collected from multiple items, when analyzed alongside the findings in Mansfield police detective Terry Butler ‘s investigation, establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Vanest committed the murder of Debra Miller on April 29, 1981,” Bammann said. “Because of this, we now consider the case closed.
“Over the past 40 years, her homicide has gone unsolved. During this time, the case has been reopened several times. One individual continued to draw investigators’ attention but not enough evidence could ever be provided to sustain an indictment,” Bammann said.