After investigators struggled for more than two decades to find leads, a man was indicted Thursday for the 1992 murder of a Tufts University graduate in Boston.
Lena Bruce, originally from Philadelphia, was 21 when she strangled and raped at her South Boston apartment.
"The evidence suggests she was bound with a telephone cord, sexually assaulted, and suffocated by an intruder," Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said. "Her roommate discovered her body on the evening of July 12, 1992."
James Witkowski was indicted Thursday for the first-degree murder.
Witkowski, who is now 42 and currently incarcerated on an assault and battery conviction, had no known connection to Bruce.
"At the time of her murder, he had only a minor record of larceny-related offenses," Conley said.
Investigators say DNA evidence that had been preserved for decades led to the arrest in the cold case. Witkowski's DNA was put in CODIS in 2013 when he was sent to jail for violating parole on an assault and battery charge.
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Additionally, a wallet found outside Bruce's apartment had one of Witkowski's fingerprints.
Conley noted that Bruce was the only Arican American woman in her class who graduated with a degree in electical engineering.
Sadly, Conley said, Bruce's parents died before the case was solved.
"I just hope they're up there with their daughter and can look down and find relief that the person that probably ruined their life is being held responsible," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said.
