On a Friday evening back in 1999, police were called to a basement apartment in Northeast D.C. Inside that apartment, they found 24-year-old Susan Cvengros dead.
Now, D.C. police has said it solved the cold case that happened 26 years ago.
The news comes with the arrest of 70-year-old George Mudd, of Northeast D.C., on a charge of first-degree murder while armed.
Cvengros had been stabbed 13 times inside her bedroom, and her former roommate said they found the door unlocked and a window in that bedroom open. Although police were quick to speak with multiple witnesses in the case, trying to develop a suspect or person of interest, the case eventually went cold.
Then, in 2012, analysis of DNA put Mudd on investigators’ radar. In fact, police interviewed Mudd about the 1999 killing.
At the time, Mudd was in prison for other crimes he had committed.
According to court documents, Mudd said he didn’t know Cvengros, and claimed he did not kill her. After further questioning, he told investigators at the time of the murder that he did cocaine and had sex with many women, and was not sure if Cvengros was among the women.
Court documents indicate Mudd was the focus of the police investigation. However, at some point, laboratory files for the case went missing. The FBI only found those files in 2024.
Mudd was questioned again about the case in 2023, where he maintained his innocence.
With investigators having processed additional DNA testing, results in October 2024 revealed that swabs obtained from Cvengros’ body matched with Mudd, according to police.
Cold case no more
During his first court appearance on Wednesday, Mudd stood and listened to the charges against him as they were read.
The defense claimed the evidence may only indicate that Mudd and Cvengros had a consensual relationship, not that he attacked her. His defense lawyer also urged the judge to release Mudd ahead of his next hearing, claiming that Mudd is dealing with medical issues and hasn’t had any run-ins with the law in over 20 years.
Prosecutors quickly pushed back, telling the court about two other criminal convictions against Mudd — one for robbery in 2000 and an assault conviction in 2004. In both cases, the victims were women and knives were used, according to prosecutors.
Speaking on the arrest, Lt. Keith Batton, with the D.C. Police Homicide Branch, said the cold case team leaned on newer DNA techniques to get to this point.
“Our technology has grown so much from 1999 to now,” Batton said.
In the end, the judge said there was enough of a case against Mudd to show that he should not be released. Mudd was ordered to be held without bond.
He will appear back in court on July 30.
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