A suspected serial killer sitting on Florida”s loss of life row has been linked to the chilly case killing of a lady whose physique was found in 1998 by a boater, authorities mentioned Wednesday.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office mentioned Eileen Truppner was just lately recognized utilizing DNA proof. She was present in December 1998 in a grassy space by a boater and was murdered, raped and left for useless, Sheriff Gregory Tony mentioned throughout a information convention.
“For 20-something years, there has been no closure, no justice for who is now identified as Eileen Truppner, that was our victim,” he mentioned. “She is no longer faceless. She is no longer nameless. That is important for us as a community to have that name, and it’s important for the family members.”
At the time of the invention, investigators solely had a sketch and Truppner’s clothes to go off of. After years, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s genetic family tree unit helped observe down DNA of three of Truppner’s sisters.
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![Side by side image of Eileen Truppner and Lucious Boyd](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/12/1200/675/Truppner2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Eileen Truppner was killed in 1998 and just lately recognized, Florida authorities mentioned. Her suspected killer, Lucious Boyd, is sitting on loss of life row for an additional killing that occurred across the similar time Truppner was homicide, Broward County investigators mentioned. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Corrections. )
Truppner moved within the 90s from Puerto Rico to Miami to take English lessons, her sister, Nancy Truppner advised reporters. She had youngsters however grew to become depressed and misplaced custody of them, her sister mentioned. Truppner finally misplaced contact with everybody round August 1998.
“She had the first child, and she [suffered from] postpartum depression,” Nancy Truppner mentioned. “When the second child, having the child so fast, it was devastating. The depression was worse.”
While investigating the case, detectives suspected serial killer Roberto Wagner Fernandes, who was finally linked to a few homicides, Fox Tampa reported.
Nancy and Eileen Truppner with two youngsters. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
However, Truppner’s DNA was finally linked to Lucious Boyd, a suspected serial killer. A grand jury indicted him final week for Truppner’s loss of life. He faces expenses of first-degree homicide and sexual battery.
Boyd was beforehand sentenced to loss of life for the killing of 21-year-old Dawnia Dacosta, who was killed about two weeks earlier than Truppner, authorities mentioned. Investigators theorized that Boyd almost certainly took benefit of Truppner’s psychological well being struggles when he allegedly killed her.
Eileen Truppner sits with a baby. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Dacosta had run out of gasoline on her method residence from a midnight church service. She walked to a gasoline station to replenish a canister when she crossed paths with Boyd who supplied to provide her a journey. Her physique was later discovered wrapped in sheets and a plastic bathe curtain behind a warehouse.
Boyd can be suspected in a number of different murders, investigators mentioned.
“We strongly believe he’s a serial killer,” one detective mentioned.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-womans-cold-case-murder-cracked-quarter-century-later