Virginia Lee Witte, 51, was found dead in her Marion home on May 12, 1978. She had been strangled and also suffered a severe knife wound; her husband David Witte discovered her body. The death was investigated as a homicide.

Investigators later linked her murder to Timothy Wayne Krajcir, a serial killer active between 1977 and 1982 who targeted women in multiple states. Krajcir’s known pattern included sexual assault and strangulation; his criminal history dated back to the 1960s with prior arrests for sexual assault and other violent crimes. DNA evidence ultimately connected him to several murders and he was convicted of multiple counts, receiving 13 consecutive life terms.

The case illustrates how advances in forensic technology helped resolve a long-unsolved killing that had left a family without answers. Did anyone who knew Virginia or her routines in Marion around 1978 have information that wasn’t shared with investigators?