GUILTY AR - Kristin Laurite, 25, found murdered, Morrillton, 24 Aug 2000

mysteriew

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Investigators have used DNA evidence to link a Montana man already serving a life sentence to the rape and murder of a Scotch Plains woman at an Arkansas rest stop nearly five years ago, authorities said yesterday.

DNA detected on the body of Kristin Laurite, who was found stabbed to death in August 2000 along Interstate 40, was matched to DNA from the prisoner, Ronald James Ward, 38, said Sheriff Mark Flowers, of Conway County, Ark.

Laurite, who would have turned 30 this year, was alone and making a cross-country move from New Jersey to California when she pulled off the highway northwest of Little Rock to walk her two dogs.

Authorities also have linked him to at least two other homicides in California that same year, one involving a homeless woman, the other a disabled woman.

Ward was not a suspect before the DNA match and has not been charged with Laurite's death, Flowers said. The sheriff said there's no rush to complete the investigation.

"It ain't like he's walking the streets," he said. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1122095496138540.xml&coll=1&thispage=2
 
Thank goodness for DNA. Blessings to families that have worried so much and to victims who have roamed wondering if anyone would get it.
 
I know that this case is very old and now solved, and no one will probably even see this comment. But I just looked Kristen up to find this thread, and wanted to say that she was one of the sweetest, most giving souls I have ever known. I was friends with her the couple years before she took that fateful trip. Truly blessed to have known her. Beautiful person, inside and out. ❤️
 
I know that this case is very old and now solved, and no one will probably even see this comment. But I just looked Kristen up to find this thread, and wanted to say that she was one of the sweetest, most giving souls I have ever known. I was friends with her the couple years before she took that fateful trip. Truly blessed to have known her. Beautiful person, inside and out. ❤️

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's difficult to lose a friend in any way, let alone having one taken from you by murder.

I was a member of the air-cooled VW community at the time (AIRS -- air-cooled interstate rescue) and LE reached out to ask if she had made contact with me as she was apparently having issues with her van and had made contact with some other members to request help. She had not, but I followed her case as close as I could in the news. Descriptions of her personality and free spirit really resonated with me and I still think of her often.
 

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