DNA links man to 1985 slaying, police say

It's been 22 years since Joel Lightfoot found the body of his younger sister Lisa, who was beaten, raped, stabbed and left on an embankment on Indianapolis' Near Southside.

A few weeks ago, Lightfoot got a call from Indianapolis metropolitan police detectives.

"It was definitely a shock," Lightfoot, 44, said Saturday.

"The detective called me back a few weeks later and said, 'We got him.' That's all I needed to hear."

Sgt. Mark Albert in a statement Saturday said Jimmy Atteberry, 48, was linked to the 1985 crime by biological evidence obtained in the initial investigation and entered into a national DNA database.

Atteberry has been serving sentences in a Missouri prison for rape convictions in Missouri and Illinois.

He most recently has been on pre-parole work release in St. Louis and now awaits transfer to Indiana to face the murder charge.

Lisa Lightfoot was 19 and in an early stage of pregnancy when she was reported missing on Sept. 21, 1985.

Her body was found the next day in the 900 block of South Pennsylvania Street, not far from where she was living with her boyfriend.

Her brother found her during a search by family members.

"We knew God was going to take care of this even if she was never found, but once the information stopped coming in, you don't know what to expect," Lightfoot said.

His father died last year, and his mother is living in Southern Indiana, he said.

"My mom and dad fought constantly to get over this, and I can't ever say that they really did," he said.

Adam Albertson, 43, Indianapolis, was Lisa Lightfoot's boyfriend for two years before her slaying.

"I didn't expect to ever hear anything about it again," Albertson said Saturday. "It will be a relief when he's convicted."

Albertson, now married with three children, said he still visits Lightfoot's grave every once in a while and keeps mementos of her, including her "Class of 1984" Southport High School graduation T-shirt.

He said he learned she was pregnant from autopsy results.