A DNA match identifies a suspect in the 1980s murders of two women in California

Updated on July 26, 2022 17:48 PM by Dhinesh

Authorities in Southern California

The authorities in Southern California made the revelation on Monday that a suspect had been identified in the decades-old homicides of two women using a DNA match. The murders of the two victims took place in the 1980s. The area was the setting for the criminal activity.

Dead 23-year-old woman

In 1987, a 23-year-old woman named Shannon Rose Lloyd was discovered dead in her Garden Grove, California, apartment. Orange County District Attorney's Office says she was sexually raped and strangled to death.

Dead 27-year-old Renee Cuevas

It wasn't until three years later, in 2003, that a crime lab revealed evidence connecting Lloyd's death to that of another woman, 27-year-old Renee Cuevas, who had been murdered in the same county in 1989.

An investigating team that utilized genetic genealogy in the year 2021 came to the conclusion that Reuben J. Smith was a plausible suspect in both of the crimes.

DA's Office:

Smith, a 39-year-old Las Vegas man, committed himself in 1999, a year after he was jailed for allegedly sexually abusing and attempting to kill a third woman in Las Vegas. Authorities said the victim resisted and managed to flee.

Life was in jeopardy

"The evil that resides inside him. My life was in jeopardy if I didn't engage in combat "In a statement provided by the District Attorney's Office, an anonymous lady who survived the 1998 attack claimed. "It was just awful. The things he did and said were shocking. My life was in jeopardy because of him."

DNA profile

Smith's DNA was discovered to be a match with the DNA profile that was left at the crime sites in the 1980s involving the deaths of Lloyd and Cuevas. Smith had been a resident in Orange County in the 1980s, during the time period in which the murders were committed, prior to moving to Nevada.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer

According to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, the loved ones of Shannon Lloyd and Shannon Cuevas finally have the answers they've been looking for for more than 30 years.

Because of advancements in IGG technology mixed with generations of detectives and the unwavering devotion of District Attorney's Office prosecutors and forensic scientists, we know who killed Renee and Shannon.

"Justice has no expiration date”

The district attorney continued by saying that "Justice does not have an expiration date."

According to the authorities in Garden Grove, California, the city's genetic genealogy section has now identified a possible suspect in a cold case murder for the second time in the last year. The first time was in the previous year.

Genetic genealogy

Researchers around the world are using genetic genealogy to solve decades-old crimes by combining DNA analysis with genealogy study. California's so-called Golden State Killer has been identified in one of the most high-profile instances thanks to an investigative approach that was then innovative.

According to the authorities, one of Joseph DeAngelo's relatives had registered on an internet genealogy site, which is what led them to conclude that DeAngelo was a suspect in the case. The website in question was Ancestry.com.