DNA links jailed man to 1985 rape, murder

BATON ROUGE — Authorities have linked the 1985 rape and killing of a 19-year-old Baton Rouge woman to a man now serving life in a Georgia prison for another murder, police say.

DNA evidence connected Vernon Kennedy, 51, to the Sept. 18, 1985, slaying of Tina Marie Kristynik, Baton Rouge police spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said.

Police do not yet know whether Kennedy will be brought to Baton Rouge and tried for the killing. Kristynik was raped and beaten to death in a house in Baton Rouge.

Her mother, Rita Goldsmith, was told Wednesday that police had identified a suspect in the 21-year-old murder.

"The flood of emotions is more overwhelming than I expected," Goldsmith said from her home in Sedona, Ariz. "I really didn't think they would find him."

DNA evidence from the crime scene was put into a Louisiana state police database a day after Kristynik was killed, and a match was made last May, Kelly said.

Follow-up tests confirming the initial results were recently received by Baton Rouge police, he said.