The murder of Eve Wilkowitz
Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York · 1980
Overview
Eve Wilkowitz, a 20-year-old publishing-company secretary, took a late train home to Bay Shore, Long Island, on the night of March 22, 1980 and was abducted while walking from the station. She was raped and strangled, and her body was found three days later on a Bay Shore lawn. The case stayed cold for 42 years until investigative genetic genealogy led the Suffolk County Police and the FBI to Herbert Rice, a neighbor who had lived a few houses from where the body was found and who died of cancer in 1991. Rice's body was exhumed in March 2022, and DNA from his remains matched evidence preserved from the crime, allowing the Suffolk County District Attorney to name him as the killer.
How it was solved
Suffolk County detectives preserved biological evidence from the 1980 crime and, after conventional DNA database searches over the years produced no offender match, in December 2019 sent the genetic material to the FBI for forensic genetic genealogy. In July 2021 an FBI genetic genealogist who had built family trees from distant relatives in public DNA databases identified a candidate surname, Rice, narrowing the search to the deceased Herbert Rice. A cooperating son of Rice provided a DNA sample that pointed to his father, and prosecutors obtained a court order to exhume Rice's remains. On March 10, 2022 the body was exhumed under a warrant signed by a Supreme Court justice; the chief medical examiner removed a bone sample for DNA extraction, and the resulting profile matched evidence from Wilkowitz's body. Officials described it as the first time a public-database DNA match solved a Suffolk County homicide.
Sources
- 20-year-old New York woman's cold case homicide solved 42 years later
“Herbert Rice ... was 29 ... died of cancer in 1991 ... had three convictions for minor crimes (ineligible for DNA sampling at that time).”
- Suffolk PD, FBI Use New Genealogy Method to Solve 42-year-old Bay Shore Murder Case
“Wilkowitz was walking home from the train station ... Rice lived a few houses away from where her body was discovered.”
- DNA technology helps solve 1980 murder of Eve Wilkowitz on Long Island
“We solved the 42-year-old homicide case of Eve Wilkowitz ... The perpetrator of that crime, a Herbert Rice, who is deceased.”
- 1980 cold case rape and murder finally solved, police say
“Manual strangulation ... ligature marks on wrists, signs of rape ... missing items: coat, blouse, shoes, pocketbook.”
- 42-Year-Old Homicide Case Solved With Genealogy Testing
“Body found March 25, 1980 on Center Avenue lawn ... Herbert V. Rice died October 18, 1991 ... exhumed March 10, 2022 under warrant from Justice John B. Collins.”
- She waited 42 years to learn who killed her sister. The answer didn't ease her pain.
“December 2019: DNA sent to FBI ... July 2021: genealogist identified a distant relative with surname Rice ... Irene Wilkowitz: 'For 42 years, this was all I wanted.'”
- Innovative Legal and Investigative Techniques Solve 42-Year-Old Homicide Case
“We tackled this case as soon as I got into office and figured out a way to legally expedite the exhumation of Ms. Wilkowitz's suspected killer.”
- Eve Wilkowitz cold case: DNA test cracks 40-year-old murder of Long Island secretary
“Police obtained a warrant to exhume Rice's body from a Bay Shore cemetery; a bone sample DNA matched evidence from the victim's body.”