Investigators ID suspect in 1976 cold case of slain NKY teenager

A 46-year-old murder investigation into the death of a Northern Kentucky teenager has been solved, according to the Boone County Sheriff's Office.

Officials said Thomas Dunaway, originally of Park Hills, Kentucky, is believed to have killed 16-year-old Carol Sue Klaber in 1976. Dunaway was 19 years old at the time of the killing, though he died in December 1990 at the age of 33.

What happened to Carol Sue Klaber?

Klaber left her parents' Fort Wright home around 5:30 p.m. on June 4, 1976, to have dinner at Zino's Hyde Park Restaurant, according to a 1977 Cincinnati Post article.

She'd gone bike riding earlier that afternoon and a neighbor said that she returned with a young man who was driving a two-tone car, the article states. She went into her home, came out several minutes later, got into the man's car and they drove off together.

Klaber's body was discovered the next day in a ditch along Chambers Road about one-and-a-half miles east of U.S. Route 25 near Walton, Kentucky, the article states.

She was beaten and strangled, with police at the time saying evidence pointed to her being killed at a different location. Officials say there was also evidence of sexual assault.

Klaber was a junior at Dixie Heights High School, where she played violin in the school's string ensemble, the Post reported. She was described as being "popular with her classmates."

How was Dunaway identified?

Investigators submitted DNA evidence from the crime scene to a third-party company, Othram Inc., for genealogy testing, officials said. That company was able to build a comprehensive DNA profile and produce leads for investigators to follow.

The company notified the sheriff's office in January that its genealogy investigation was complete and detectives were able to positively identify Dunaway through a follow-up investigation, officials said.

Since the sheriff's office launched its cold case unit in 2017, detectives had previously ruled out two other potential suspects, officials said.

Did Dunaway have a criminal past?

Detective Coy Cox said Dunaway had been on a six-month crime spree and that he had a pattern of committing crimes and ditching the cars he'd driven at the time those crimes occurred.

Dunaway was convicted of murder in another Boone County killing that happened a little more than six months after Klaber's death, according to Cox.

Officials said 19-year-old Ronald Townsend was found with several gunshot wounds on Dec. 17, 1976. He died four days later.

Cox said Dunaway was later arrested, confessed, pleaded guilty and was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in connection with Townsend’s killing, though he was released just seven-and-a-half years later.

Klaber and Townsend were both left in plain view just inches from the roadway, Cox said, adding the locations where they were discovered are just less than six miles apart.

Investigators discovered Dunaway was AWOL from the U.S. Army when Townsend was shot. He'd enlisted nine days after Klaber's body was found and was sent to Fort Knox, south of Louisville, before being sent to Fort Carson, Colorado.

Dunaway bought a two-tone 1973 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in May 1976, Cox said. As soon as he got to Fort Carson, Dunaway traded the Monte Carlo for an orange Chevrolet Vega.

Detectives investigating Townsend's murder issued an attempt to locate for Dunaway and the Vega, officials said. On Christmas Eve 1976, he was arrested in South Carolina on charges of arson and possession of an illegal firearm.

Law enforcement in South Carolina found Dunaway burning a Chevrolet Impala and he had a sawed-off shotgun, Cox said, adding investigators learned Dunaway traded the Vega for the Impala.

How did Dunaway know Klaber?

Though investigators aren't entirely certain how Dunaway and Klaber knew each other, Cox said Dunaway lived half a mile from Devou Park, where Klaber would often ride her bike.

The detective said Klaber was a "very social person" and she would often talk to people there. That's possibly how they met, Cox added.

He said the two also attended Erlanger/Elsmere Schools when they were younger and it's possible they knew each other from their time in the district.

What happens with the case now?

Though Dunaway can't be posthumously indicted, Boone County Commonwealth's Attorney Louis Kelly said, a formal letter has been submitted by prosecutors stating that he would've been charged with murder in connection with Klaber's death were he still alive.

Klaber's older brother, who was the family member to identify her body, was notified that detectives identified the suspected killer after more than 40 years, Cox said.

Dunaway's remains were exhumed so his DNA can be entered into a national database, officials said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Investigators ID suspect in 1976 cold case of slain NKY teenager