DNA helps identify violent rapist as suspect in decades-old murder of Apple Valley woman

Investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and FBI – Riverside Office identified a suspect in a nearly four-decade-old cold case murder in Apple Valley.
Investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and FBI – Riverside Office identified a suspect in a nearly four-decade-old cold case murder in Apple Valley.

Advancements in DNA technology helped authorities to identify a suspect in a nearly four-decade-old cold case that involved the murder of a woman in Apple Valley.

Robert Eugene Wortman, a late resident of Apple Valley, was identified as the suspect in the 37-year-old cold case murder of Helen Margaret Brooks, 63, according to sheriff's officials on Monday.

Investigators from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Detail — Cold Case Unit along with those from the FBI — Riverside Office worked to solve the cold case.

The murder

On July 5, 1985, Brooks was found murdered inside her apartment in Apple Valley after friends and co-workers became alarmed after not hearing from her in a few days, sheriff’s officials said.

Brooks lived at the Apple Valley Gardens Apartments. She was an attractive and well-liked woman who modeled for Lolo’s fashion boutique at the Apple Valley Inn, according to a previous story by the Daily Press.

During that time, investigators collected DNA evidence from the scene but were limited to the DNA technology of the time and did not identify a suspect, the sheriff’s report on Monday said.

Investigators at that time learned Robert Eugene Wortman, 37, met Brooks in the days prior to her murder and returned to Brooks’ apartment between July 3 and 5.

At the time, Wortman was interviewed by investigators, but he said he had no knowledge of Brooks’ murder and denied he went into her apartment. Investigators were unable to prove his involvement in the murder, sheriff's officials said.

At the beginning of the original investigation, the method of Brooks’ death was not revealed. However, in September 1985, Sheriff’s officials said Brooks died of strangulation by nylon stocking, the Daily Press reported.

Suspect IDed for Brooks cold case

Over the years, several interviews and polygraph tests were conducted, but the Brooks murder case remained unsolved.

In 2009, cold case detectives re-examined the case and submitted items for DNA testing. A suspect DNA profile was developed but did not match anyone in the DNA database.

In 2021, Cold Case Homicide Investigators partnered with the FBI – Riverside Office to reopen the case and request additional analysis of Wortman’s DNA profile.

Through additional investigation and advancements in DNA technology, Wortman was identified as the suspect in Brooks’ murder, according to sheriff’s officials.

Wortman had an extensive sexually violent criminal history and died in prison in 1995 while serving a 22-year prison sentence on an unrelated rape case in San Bernardino County, the sheriff’s report said.

Robert Eugene Wortman arrested

In August 1985, Wortman was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a woman at the Cocky Bull restaurant and bar on Highway 395 in Victorville.

In 1991, a jury convicted Wortman of rape and a related sex crime stemming from a Halloween 1990 incident at a bar in Apple Valley, the Daily Press reported.

Wortman met a 49-year-old woman at the Apple Valley bar and drove her to the dump on Yucca Loma Road, where he forced her to undress. He then raped her and forced her to commit oral copulation, the woman testified in court.

During that time, Wortman had a Sonoma County rape conviction from 1978 and a conviction from false imprisonment in San Bernardino County, court records showed.

Rita Cobb death

In September 1985, sheriff’s investigators were comparing the Brooks’ crime scene to that of Rita Cobb, 55, whose strangled body was found in her home in the 35000 block of Hwy. 18 in Lucerne Valley, the Daily Press reported.

“We are comparing crime scenes to see if there are similarities,” Sheriff's Lt. Blake Brinkerhoff said at that time. “It could be the same killer; we just don’t know.”

There were “no signs of a big struggle or a rape” at either crime scene, and apparently, there was no sexual activity involved, said Brinkerhoff.

Cobb was employed as a secretary at Spring Valley Lake Country Club. Both Cobb and Brooks were middle-aged and lived alone.

“These cases bother the heck out of me,” sheriff’s Investigator Sgt. Bill Arthur said in 1987 about the unsolved murders. “These women did not deserve to die. They weren’t into narcotics. They weren’t into robbing people. They were just enjoying life.”

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Instagram @RenegadeReporter and Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: DNA helps solve decades-old murder of popular Apple Valley woman