Jody Loomis was shot in the head on August 23, 1972. Minutes before being pronounced dead at a hospital, she was found half-naked by a couple on an isolated dirt road near Bothell, Washington.
I was 20 years old.
His case was a mystery for 47 years.
In 2019, at last, a DNA sample from a coffee cup revealed the alleged culprit, as it matched the semen found in Loomis' boot.
[This man survived nine shots, then his ex-wife planned another deadly attack]
Genetic testing led to Terrence Miller, 78, who was charged last April in the girl's death and arrested at his home.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to The Everett Herald.
Miller was increasingly concerned that the DNA evidence would be robust and that it would lead him to spend the rest of his life in jail.
Last November, he posted a million dollar bond.
"When it's all over, the trial and all that, I'm going to be in jail," Miller told his wife of 43 years in a recorded phone call from jail.
"This is not a winnable case. That is the question," he added.
[The police told this woman that they needed her DNA to identify a dead person. But then he used it to arrest his son]
On Monday, just hours before he could be convicted of first-degree murder, Miller died in an apparent suicide at his home, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
His body was found in a home in Edmonds, about 16 miles north of Seattle, just before 10 a.m. Monday.
The Office of the Medical Examiner has yet to make a final determination on the cause of his death.
48 years ago, Loomis was riding her white 10-speed bike from her home in Bothell to a nearby stable to ride her horse, dressed in a tank top, jeans and boots.
While he was halfway down the road, someone shot him in the head, a witness saw.
["I can not say anything. I can be killed. They are crazy". A find in the 'house of horrors' reopens the investigation of a serial killer]
Investigators believe that at the time of the girl's death, Miller was living near the place where her body was found.
His murder was solved thanks to the DNA tests taken.
"A digital file containing DNA genotype data collected from the victim's tests was uploaded to GEDmatch, a public genetic genealogy website. Several promising matches were found in some of the suspect's relatives," the Sheriff's Office explained. in a 2019 Facebook post announcing Miller's arrest.
Loomis' brother, John Loomis, said he would have liked to see Miller in prison: "He got away with it for 48 years," he said in a telephone interview with NBC News on Tuesday.
Murders increase in 69 US cities this summer
Sept.
1, 202000: 54
John Loomis was 27 years old when his sister died: "He was so glad they finally caught him," he said, "almost justice was served."
Laura Martin, an advocate for Miller, said her client was innocent and the only evidence against him was "a failed DNA analysis of the exterior of a boot."
He alleged that one of the laboratory tests with DNA samples was contaminated, and that an analyst also contaminated the boots with his own genetic material.
"Death seemed preferable to letting a jury decide a verdict on the tainted evidence," the attorney noted, "this is a terrible tragedy that began with the death of Jody Loomis and is compounded by an innocent man taking off his lifetime".
The prosecution said that Martin's arguments were rejected by the jury, as he "found that the State's evidence, including the integrity of the DNA testing process, was convincing enough to convict Miller of murder."
With information from NBC News, The Washington Post and The Everett Herald.