DNA advances may have solved 20-year-old murder

Advances in DNA testing led to the arrest of a Longmont man in a 20-year-old murder case Jan. 29, according to information from the Boulder County Sheriff's office.

Sheriff's deputies and investigators from the Boulder County Drug Task Force arrested Kevin Elmarr, 49, Longmont, on a warrant charging him with the 1987 murder of his ex-wife Carol Murphy, who nude body was found in Lefthand Canyon, according to a release from the sheriff's office. Elmarr was taken into custody without incident in Boulder.

" Carol Joyce Murphy, who was 27 years of age at the time of her death, was a long-time resident of Longmont," states the release. "She was last seen by her co-workers at Miniscribe (a now defunct computer data storage firm) on the morning of May 22, 1987. She was seen departing the company's parking lot in Longmont on the back of a yellow Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, allegedly operated by her ex-husband, Kevin Elmarr.

Elmarr was held at Boulder County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond on a single count of first-degree murder.

Murphy's body, partially covered by aspen leaves, was found by hikers the following day in a small meadow near a pull-out in the 11,200 block of Lefthand Canyon Drive, approximately five miles east of Ward. An autopsy revealed that Murphy had been strangled and her throat cut, and that a small amount of semen, then believed too small for DNA measurement remained, presumably from consensual sex.

"Sheriff's investigators considered Mr. Elmarr a likely suspect from the outset due to his having been seen with Ms. Murphy shortly before her death and the fact that they had been involved in a dispute over the custody of their two children," the release states. "Despite thousands of hours invested in the original investigation, detectives were unable to make a connection tying Mr. Elmarr to the crime scene."

However, media interest in the case and recognition that DNA technology had advanced in the years since samples had originally been submitted for lab analysis, led the sheriff's office re-submit "items" to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for analysis, according to the release.

"Based upon the results of the testing, investigators felt that they had sufficient probable cause for Mr. Elmarr's arrest," the release states. "A warrant authorizing his arrest was issued Monday morning by Judge Lael Montgomery."

"In order to avoid undue pre-trial publicity, the Sheriff's Office will not offer further details about the investigation.

"Sheriff Pelle would like to commend all of the investigators who pursued this investigation over the years, giving special recognition to retired Detective Sergeant Robert W. Meals and Detective Mike Wagner who worked tenaciously to bring the case to resolution.

"The Sheriff's message to the citizens of Boulder County is that we don't forget the victims of these heinous crimes and their families, and that we will continue to pursue these investigations in the hope of bringing them closure and bringing the guilty to justice."