LA LA - Kassie Federer, 19, LSU student, Baton Rouge, 13 Sept 1999 *DNA*

[ktgirl]

:bump/ for Kassie

 

[Solitaryone]

I haven't had a chance to read the articles yet, so going by the comments I am wondering if the neighbor who had given the description for the sketch has been looked into, as he had issues with keeping his recollections consistent and moved out shortly after the murder? Sounds sketchy to me.

Also the maintenance man. He claimed he discovered a man fitting this description in Kassie's apartment "as though he belonged there" the week prior, and had also talked to him. How did the maintenance man come to discover this man in the apartment and talk to him?

The roommate claimed to have no knowledge of who this man could have been. Has she been re-interviewed?

What a terrifying case. I hope Kassie's case will be solved.

 

[bessie]

2014 Update: DNA profile

Investigators have promising lead in 1999 BR homicide
Ben Wallace
Aug. 23, 2014; 10:11 p.m.

[...]
Testing something collected from the scene, police now have an unidentified DNA profile.

“We consider the lead to be very significant, and we’re following up on several different avenues for locating the donor,” Detective John Dauthier, the department’s only employee assigned full-time to cold case homicides, said in an interview. Dauthier declined to expand on the find. Detectives routinely keep some specific details hidden from the public that only people directly involved with a crime can confirm to them, at least partially to avoid arresting people on false confessions.

[...]

“Usually in a case like this, usually there can be a close relative, or an ill-gotten friend, or a robbery — something that will remotely justify what you see before you in your mind, and you start working on that angle,” said Ron Cowart, a retired Baton Rouge police officer who was one of several homicide detectives originally assigned to the case. “None of that manifested itself,” he said.

Federer, who was found fully clothed, was not sexually assaulted prior to being killed. Detectives, in fact, did not find any signs of a physical struggle. However, her body was found with a portable telephone nearby. And the only notable missing item from her apartment was her backpack.

“She was running for her life,” Cowart said, describing what detectives believe happened just before she was shot, based on evidence collected at her apartment. “And she sought the sanctity of her apartment to get away from whoever was coming for her.”

The attack occurred as Federer was arriving home from school. Detectives found a trash bag sitting by the door. Federer’s dog, a cocker spaniel named Freckles, was still inside Federer’s bedroom when an apartment manager found the student’s body roughly an hour after the shooting. Lights were still on inside the apartment, said Logan Collins, a BRPD homicide detective who has worked with Dauthier on the cold case.

“It does appear that she had time to grab a phone in an attempt to call 911,” Collins said.

Drawers weren’t pulled out. Rooms weren’t ransacked. No one heard a scream.
But gunshots were heard.

much more at the link

 

[ktgirl]

Bump for Kassie.

 

[Jennybananas]

Finally. I lived 2 blocks from Kassie when she was murdered. I was also a 19 year old LSU student at the time. My roommate and I stood outside and watched the police. She’s been on my mind for nearly 20 years. So thankful for DNA.


Texas death row inmate linked by DNA to 1999 LSU student murder, police say

 

[Jennybananas]

Arrest warrant issued for man connected to 1999 death of LSU student Kassie Federer

 

[imak119]

Hi- Just wanted to tell all of you thank you for the support through the years and thank you for keeping Kassie's story out there.

 

[LR1]

Hi- Just wanted to tell all of you thank you for the support through the years and thank you for keeping Kassie's story out there.

That's very kind of you imak119 and thanks to you as well. I was so thrilled to see this news. As bittersweet as it must be, I hope it brings you all some peace.

 

[watcher9]

Adding another link to this thread.

Man on death row for 1999 slaying now linked to another murder that same month