Genetic genealogy leads to North Carolina man's arrest in 1979 cold case rape, murder in Maryland

PINEHURST, N.C. (WTVD) -- An 82-year-old Moore County man has been charged in connection with a more than four-decade-old cold case in Maryland.

Sheriff Ronnie Fields said investigators assisted the Prince George's County Police Department (PGPD) in Maryland in the arrest of Rodger Zodas Brown of Pinehurst.

Authorities said Brown was taken into custody at his home in Pinehurst on March 11 and charged in connection with the March 3, 1979 murder of 31-year-old secretary Kathryn Donohue of Arlington, Virginia, whose body was found in a parking lot in Glenarden, Maryland.

She was beaten, raped and killed in a "brutal murder," Bill DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office, said during a news conference on Tuesday.

No suspects were identified and the case went unsolved for decades, leaving Donohue's family waiting for answers, authorities said. However, police said DNA was left on her body.

In 2024, police said they identified a relative of the suspect through genetic genealogy, an investigative tool in which the unknown DNA from the crime scene is identified by comparing it to family members who voluntarily submit DNA samples to a database.

Officials said Brown, who lived in Hyattsville, Maryland, at the time of the murder, is facing charges of first-degree murder, rape, and related offenses.

In a statement released by police, Donohue's family thanked the investigators, saying their "relentless pursuit of the truth" "has finally given us a sense of closure that we never thought possible after all this time."

Brown was "solemn," "cold" and showed "no reaction" when he was arrested, police said.

He is currently in North Carolina pending extradition to Prince George's County, Maryland.

"This case serves as a reminder that we will never give up seeking the truth no matter how much time has passed," Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz said.