1974 GA Cold Case Solved - 13 yo Ima Jean Sanders ID'd

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ajc.com/news/cold-case-solved-girl-1266898.html
Cold case solved: Girl, 13, was killed by serial killer in 1974
By Fran Jeffries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 21, 2011


Macon Telegraph Ima Jean Sanders disappeared from Warner Robins on Aug. 1, 1974.

Authorities said Wednesday they have solved the case of a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from Warner Robins in 1974
They say Ima Jean Sanders was the victim of serial killer Paul John Knowles.

Skeletal remains found in a wooded area off Ga. 96 in April 1976 recently were matched to the girl, said Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Perry office.

Investigators are “reasonably confident” that Knowles criminally killed the young girl in August 1974, Rothwell said.

In 1974, Knowles, 28, of Orlando, went on a killing spree across several states, killing at least 18 people, including a Milledgeville man and his teenage daughter. Carwell Carr, 45, was stabbed with a pair of scissors, while his daughter, Mandy was strangled in their home.

Knowles was captured in a roadblock near McDonough on I-75 north of Macon in November 1974 after kidnapping a Florida state trooper and another man near Perry, Fla., and later killing them in Pulaski County.

Knowles was shot to death by a GBI agent on Dec. 18, 1974, while attempting to escape from custody near Douglasville.

On Aug. 1, 1974, Sanders disappeared from Warner Robins. Two years later, in April 1976, skeletal remains of a young girl were found in a wooded area in Peach County. The remains could not be identified and were kept by the GBI Crime Laboratory in Atlanta.

In January 2011, DNA samples from Sanders’ mother and sister, now living in Texas, were sent to a national DNA database containing DNA of convicted criminals and missing persons.

The genetic data from Sanders’ mother and sister matched DNA from the girl's skeletal remains. Using this information, investigators developed evidence to support the likelihood that Sanders was killed in 1974 by Knowles.
More...

[4 Donks]

Serial killer blamed for 1974 killing of Ga. girl

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia investigators used DNA and other evidence to link the slaying of a 13-year-old girl who went missing in 1974 with a serial killer who was blamed for murdering at least 18 people, authorities said Wednesday.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said agents were "reasonably confident" that Ima Jean Sanders was killed 37 years ago by Paul John Knowles.
 ::snipping2::

4 donks, we already have a thread started for Ima Jean Sanders in "Finally Solved", so I'm going to merge this one with it. MB

[KittyMom]

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/157859/175/GBI-Says-DNA-Solved-1974-Killing-of-Ima-Jean-Sanders

GBI Says DNA Solved 1974 Killing of Ima Jean Sanders

Knowles, a 29-year-old Florida parolee, went on a cross-country killing spree in the spring, summer and fall of that year.
During that time, Knowles often stopped by Macon to visit a girlfriend and he killed some of his 18 known victims in Middle Georgia.

During Knowles murder spree, he mailed audio taped confessions of his crimes to a Florida attorney. Following Knowles' death, the release of these tapes was the subject litigation ultimately reaching U. S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals prior to District Court Judge Wilbur Owens allowing them to be reviewed by a federal grand jury in 1975. Although the tapes were never disclosed publicly, there were rumors they included Knowles confession to murdering a teenage girl near Macon.

It is a real shame that those tapes weren't released to LE in areas that Knowles traveled to.  They may've been able to solve some other cold cases.

[KittyMom]

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/9553-gbi-1974-murder-linked-to-serial-killer
GBI-1974 Murder Linked to Serial Killer

" He claimed to have killed as many as 36 people. I'm not sure all those cases have been resolved; I know this one was rumored to occurred but know one knew the identity of the victim", said Gary Rothwell of the GBI. 　

[Sister]

http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/9553-gbi-1974-murder-linked-to-serial-killer
GBI-1974 Murder Linked to Serial Killer

" He claimed to have killed as many as 36 people. I'm not sure all those cases have been resolved; I know this one was rumored to occurred but know one knew the identity of the victim", said Gary Rothwell of the GBI. 　

I pray the family feels some relief . . . but my goodness, they must feel fresh pain again after all this time.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/DNA-Solves-Texas-Girls-1974-Murder-011212
DNA Solves Texas Girl's 1974 Murder
Beaumont Family Receives Missing Girl's Ashes
By Alice Wolke
January 12, 2012

 ::snipping2::
After years of searching and praying, Betty finally has her daughter back home -- she has Ima's ashes. According to the Beaumont Enterprise, Ima's remains were delivered earlier this week from Georgia investigators who were finally able to identify the young girl.

Police believe Ima was one of 18 victims of Florida serial killer John Paul Knowles. He had escaped from jail in 1974 and went on a killing spree in eight states before he was ultimately shot by police.

Investigators were never able to identify Knowles' fourth victim, a young girl found near Macon, Ga. in 1976. Her remains were stored away by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Then in 2011, Ima's mother and sister submitted their DNA to a database for missing people. The DNA matched the unknown girl's remains, and linked the teen to Knowles' confession investigators had summarized in a report, according to the Associated Press.
"Sometime in August 1974, Knowles picked up a white, female hitchhiker named 'Alma' who represented her age as 13 or 14 but who appeared to be in her late teens," the report summarized. "He carried this girl to a wooded area some distance from Macon, possibly west. He raped her and then strangled her and left her body in woods between trees."
 ::snipping2::
But now Betty knows what happened, and has a small urn of ashes. She and her family are back in Beaumont, and are planning a funeral service in April, when Ima would have turned 51.

"After 38 years of waiting to know, you feel like the walls closed in," Betty told the paper. "I carried her home from the hospital, and I get to carry her home today."

[Sister]

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/DNA-Solves-Texas-Girls-1974-Murder-011212
DNA Solves Texas Girl's 1974 Murder
Beaumont Family Receives Missing Girl's Ashes
By Alice Wolke
January 12, 2012

 ::snipping2::
After years of searching and praying, Betty finally has her daughter back home -- she has Ima's ashes. According to the Beaumont Enterprise, Ima's remains were delivered earlier this week from Georgia investigators who were finally able to identify the young girl.

Police believe Ima was one of 18 victims of Florida serial killer John Paul Knowles. He had escaped from jail in 1974 and went on a killing spree in eight states before he was ultimately shot by police.

Investigators were never able to identify Knowles' fourth victim, a young girl found near Macon, Ga. in 1976. Her remains were stored away by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Then in 2011, Ima's mother and sister submitted their DNA to a database for missing people. The DNA matched the unknown girl's remains, and linked the teen to Knowles' confession investigators had summarized in a report, according to the Associated Press.
"Sometime in August 1974, Knowles picked up a white, female hitchhiker named 'Alma' who represented her age as 13 or 14 but who appeared to be in her late teens," the report summarized. "He carried this girl to a wooded area some distance from Macon, possibly west. He raped her and then strangled her and left her body in woods between trees."
 ::snipping2::
But now Betty knows what happened, and has a small urn of ashes. She and her family are back in Beaumont, and are planning a funeral service in April, when Ima would have turned 51.

"After 38 years of waiting to know, you feel like the walls closed in," Betty told the paper. "I carried her home from the hospital, and I get to carry her home today."

I am so glad the family has their daughter home.  I look at so many of the cases here that have gone cold and wonder how many days, months, or years it may be before they have answers.  My heart aches for them.