Quebec police identify killer in cold case of 1975 slaying of teenager

LONGUEUIL, Quebec — Canadian police said Tuesday they have solved one of the most high-profile cold cases in Quebec history.

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said DNA tests are 100% certain that Franklin Maywood Romine killed 16-year-old Sharron Prior in 1975.

The body of Romine, who died in 1982 at the age of 36, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing to confirm his connection to the crime.

According to Longueuil police, Romine, who has a long criminal history, has DNA matching the sample found at the scene of the murder. It also matched a witness’ physical description of the suspect.

Prior’s rape and murder have remained unsolved since she disappeared on March 29, 1975, after leaving to meet friends at a pizzeria near her home in Montreal’s Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood.

His body was found three days later in a wooded area of ​​Longueuil on Montreal’s south shore.