A man has been Detained in connection with the cold case murder of a Virginia woman in 1986, and investigators believe DNA evidence links him to a second murder from the 1980s.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office reported that Jacqueline Lard, 32, was last seen at her job, Mount Vernon Realty, on the night of November 14, 1986.
The next morning, the sheriff’s office discovered signs of a “horrific struggle” at the real estate office.
Lard’s body was discovered in a rural area on November 16, 1986, beneath a pile of discarded carpet, according to officials. One month later, Lard’s automobile was discovered abandoned in Fairfax County, according to officials.
DNA evidence was recovered, but officials were unable to link it to a suspect, they added.
The case went cold, but the sheriff’s office said DNA eventually connected Lard’s death to another murder in Virginia: the death of 18-year-old Amy Baker.
Fairfax County police say Baker went missing on the night of March 29, 1989, after leaving a relative’s house in Falls Church.
The teen’s car was found that night on the side of road 95, and her body was discovered two days later in a rural area off the road, according to authorities.
Decades after both murders, on December 14, 2023, “a family name for the suspect was identified,” according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.
“Detectives followed up on the leads this technology created and ultimately obtained a search warrant for DNA from Stafford County resident Elroy Harrison,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
According to the sheriff’s office, the DNA from the evidence was found to match 65-year-old Harrison last month.
The sheriff’s office announced on Monday that Harrison had been indicted on counts including first-degree murder in connection with Lard’s death.
He was detained at his house in Stafford County on Tuesday and is being held without bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
Fairfax County police and prosecutors are currently working to charge Harrison with Baker’s murder, according to the sheriff’s office.
