© Calumet City Police Department
Unexpectedly, the police in the American state of Illinois believe they have solved the brutal murder of a young mother after almost 60 years. A DNA match led to the arrest of 78-year-old James Barbier last Monday.
“It was perhaps the best phone call of my life,” Paula Larson told the local station ABC Chicago about the call from the police that they have arrested a suspect for the murder of her mother 57 years ago.
120 stab wounds
Larson was just a 2.5-month-old baby when her 18-year-old mother Karen Snider was stabbed to death in her home in Calumet City, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in 1966. . Her husband found her badly beaten body when he returned home later that evening. Baby Paula lay unharmed in her crib.
Soon after the murder, the police spotted James Barbier. He was a friend and colleague of Snider’s husband on the railroad and aroused the suspicion of investigators because he showed up at Paula’s funeral with noticeable injuries. Barbier’s wife later stated that her husband had come home the night of the murder with cuts and had appeared nervous. He had also put his clothes in the washing machine that same evening.
Although Barbier was arrested and interrogated, the police were unable to obtain evidence against him and the murder remained unsolved.
Blood stain on clothes
Until the investigation was reopened in 2022 and modern techniques could be used to determine a DNA profile from blood stains that were found on the victim’s clothing at the time. This led to a match with the DNA of the now elderly Barbier. The suspect at the time could therefore be irrevocably linked to the murder.
“My family has always believed this is the perpetrator,” Larson said. “Still, I had given up hope. I never thought that there would still be a DNA match, because that possibility did not previously exist. I am extremely grateful that this garment has been well preserved for all this time.”
Barbier was arrested last Monday in the state of Missouri. He has been charged with murder, although a judge has decided that he can await trial under house arrest due to his old age and fragile health.
