DNA tests, dogged detectives credited with solving 1988 case
By JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press
May 6, 2019 4:00 PM CDT
DNA tests, dogged detectives credited with solving 1988 case
Joe Ryan, left, of Greenville stands with his wife near a photo of his late mother Alice Haynesworth Ryan, during a city police announcement of an arrest in the 1988 cold case homicide in Greenville, S.C., Monday, May 6, 2019. Police arrested suspect Brian Keith Munns. (Ken Ruinard/The Independent-Mail...   (Associated Press)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than 30 years after an 80-year-old woman was fatally stabbed in her South Carolina home, authorities say they have arrested her killer.

Greenville Police Chief Ken Thomas says more sophisticated DNA testing combined with more than two years of interviews led to the arrest of a registered sex offender from Americus, Georgia.

Thomas said at a news conference Monday that 51-year-old Brian Keith Munns is charged with murder, burglary and armed robbery.

Thomas says 80-year-old Alice Haynsworth Ryan was found stabbed to death in her home in 1988 after her daughter brought her home from chemotherapy.

The chief says Munns lived within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of Ryan but did not say why he may have killed her.

A message to Munns' lawyer wasn't returned.

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