Cynthia Rodgers was walking to the store to buy ingredients to make soup on Super Bowl Sunday in 1989 but never made it back. She was dragged into a wooded area, raped and strangled to death.
Rodgers’ body was found five days later, on Jan. 27, 1989. Since then, her mother and family have sought to learn who killed the 27-year-old biologist, who was working on Parkinson’s disease research at the National Institutes of Health.
Detectives with Prince George’s County Police Homicide Cold Case Unit retested DNA recovered at the crime scene, using newly developed technology, and developed a complete unidentified male profile.
A search of the State of Maryland DNA database turned up a hit: Thursday, Prince George’s County Police announced they had charged 64-year-old James Clinton Cole with Rodgers’ murder and sexual assault.
“This makes us feel better,” Rodgers’ mother Rosia told NBC Washington. Tapping on her chest, she said “my heart is feeling lighter.”
Jennifer Rodgers’ niece, Dawn Page, said she has been advocating for an investigation into the case for 33 years.
“This break is definitely cathartic for our family,” Page said. “We have relief that we know who’s accountable for it.”
Cole is already in prison. He’s serving a life sentence for the 1996 rape of a Charles County girl. That was also a cold case that was finally solved in 2009 thanks to advances in DNA technology.
“The burden’s been lifted to a certain point,” Jennifer Rodgers’ younger brother Phillip told NBC Washington. “There will never be total healing, but we have some relief.”
Rodgers’ mother said she will be in court when Cole makes his first court appearance. “I really want to see this person who did this, face to face.”
