MA - Eileen Ferro, 21, murdered in her Shrewsbury home, 22 Feb 1977

Lonzo Guthrie, 69, was arrested for the brutal 1977 stabbing murder of Eileen Ferro at her Worcester, MA home. Detectives caught him after he was arrested for driving without a license in Georgia and required to submit DNA for a prior rape charge in California, which hit on DNA collected by Worcester police. He was using the alias Norman James.

http://www.masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2014/02/40-year-old_dna_evidence_lin.html

Now for the random part of this story...my grandfather, who lives in Austell, befriended "Norman" at a flea market and he had been to the house several times, helping my younger cousins and grandpa work on cars and just hanging out with the family. He had told them he had been a truck driver in the 70's and 80's, which leads me to think that Eileen and the California rape victim were not his only ones.

From last month:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20151210/NEWS/151219866

Judge Janet Kenton-Walker scheduled jury selection for the Worcester Superior Court trial on Feb. 11, with testimony to begin Feb. 16...

Mr. Guthrie... was indicted last year on a first-degree murder charge in the Feb. 22, 1974, killing of the 21-year-old Ms. Ferro in her home at 30 Ladyslipper Drive in Shrewsbury. Prosecutors said Mr. Guthrie, who delivered furniture to Ms. Ferro's home the day before she was killed, was linked to the crime by DNA evidence.

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I really wish they would look at prior rape cases that might fit his profile and see if there is any untested DNA to run. Two rapes, on opposite sides of the country make me think there are more.

Opening statements Tuesday in Shrewsbury cold-case murder trial

Testimony in the trial of a Georgia man charged in connection with a 1974 Massachusetts homicide is scheduled to start this week.

Opening statements in the trial of 71-year-old Lonzo Guthrie are expected in Worcester Superior Court on Tuesday. Jury selection started last week.

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More than 40 years later, Lonzo Guthrie to stand trial in grisly death of Shrewsbury's Eileen Ferro

More than 40 years after Eileen Ferro was found with her throat slit inside her Shrewsbury home, the man authorities say is responsible will stand trial in her murder.

Lonzo Guthrie, 70, of Georgia, was charged in 2014 after authorities said DNA evidence linked him to the 1974 murder.

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Case against Lonzo Guthrie, on trial for 40-year-old grisly murder of Shrewsbury's Eileen Ferro, will hinge on one drop of blood

A prosecutor described the bloody murder scene 42 years ago where Eileen Ferro was found, with her face looking as through it'd been "dipped in blood" and her neck slit from one side to the other.

"Police encountered a crime scene that could only be described as horrific," said Assistant District Attorney John Bradley as he gave his opening statement in the murder trial of Lonzo Guthrie for the killing of 21-year-old Ferro.

The case against Guthrie hinges on one drop of blood the size of a penny found at the crime scene in the Ferro home at 30 Ladyslipper Dr.

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Lonzo Guthrie Trial Begins In Killing Of Eileen Ferro

Lonzo Guthrie found not guilty of 1974 murder of Eileen Ferro

After just a few hours of deliberations, a jury found Lonzo Guthrie not guilty in the 1974 murder of Eileen Ferro.

"Thank God. Praise Jesus," Guthrie said after the verdict was read.

Guthrie, now 70, has been on trial this week in the 1974 of then 21-year-old Ferro inside a Shrewsbury home. Her neck had been slit from ear to ear on a February night.

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Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. said he was disappointed with the verdict, but respected the jury's decision.

"This was a 40-year-old case. It was not getting any better with age, so I made the decision to go forward based on what we had," Early said.

A juror, Jim Vacca, said deliberations were quick because they didn't have much to consider.

"There wasn't a lot of evidence," Vacca said.

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Shrewsbury Murder Victim’s Husband Speaks Out After Man Acquitted In Cold Case

“What happened at this trial was a travesty of justice. I can’t even say how bad it was,” Tony Ferro said.

The Georgia man’s DNA was in a database from a previous rape conviction.

At trial, Judge Janet Kenton-Walker wouldn’t allow testimony on that rape conviction. Tony Ferro maintains the verdict would have been different if she had.

“She didn’t feel it was a similar enough crime, even though it occurred 54 days after my wife’s murder,” he said.

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Eileen Ferro, 21, was found dead in her home on Ladyslipper Drive on February 22, 1974. Police said her neck was slit from ear to ear.

Decades later, 70-year-old Lonzo Guthrie was arrested in Ferro's murder after a drop of his blood was found inside the home. Prosecutors said Guthrie was a furniture deliveryman who was at Ferro's home and returned the next day to kill her. But the defense argued Guthrie cut himself while delivering furniture and had no motive to kill her. The jury found him not guilty.