Elroy Harrison is a an alleged killer from Virginia who has been tied to two murders that took place nearly forty years ago
According to police reports Jacqueline Lard was reported missing from a real estate office where she was working in on November 15 1986. Her coworkers would walk into a bloody scene the next day where it became apparent something violent took place. Kids playing in the woods would find her body the next day
In March 1989 Amy Baker would disappear while she was visiting family. The eighteen year old would be reported missing by her family when she failed to return home and the family would find her body the next day
The two murder cases would go cold until investigators were able to reopen the cases and now were able to use all of the advancements in DNA testing that would lead them to the arrest of Elroy Harrison. A Grand Jury would indict Elroy Harrison on first-degree murder, abduction with the intent to defile and aggravated malicious wounding of Lard with more charges pending in the case of Baker
Elroy Harrison News
A Virginia man has been arrested after being connected to two cold case murders through DNA evidence.
The first murder occurred in 1986, authorities said. Jacqueline Lard of Stafford County was last seen on Nov. 15, 1986, as the real estate office where she worked closed for the day. The next morning, Lard’s coworkers found a crime scene at the office that the Stafford Police Department say indicated a “horrific struggle.” Investigators determined that the 32-year-old and her vehicle were both missing. Two juveniles playing in a wooded area found Lard’s body the next day beneath a pile of discarded carpet.
The second murder occurred in March 1989, when Stafford County woman Amy Baker disappeared while visiting family in Falls Church, Virginia, Fairfax County police said. Baker, 18, never returned home from the visit. Her car was found unoccupied that same night, and her family reported her missing. Her family searched the area and found Baker’s body in a wooded area near an exit ramp on I-95.
Forensic evidence from both murders was used to identify Baker and Lard’s alleged killer. In 2021, detectives with the Fairfax County Police Department’s cold case team submitted evidence from Baker’s death to DNA Labs International. A DNA profile was created and uploaded to Virginia’s state database. This allowed those investigating Lard’s death to connect the two killings.
Detectives then used forensic genetic genealogy, with the assistance of Parabon NanoLabs and the Virginia State Police’s Unsolved Violent Crimes and Cold Cases Analytical Support Team, to identify the family name of a possible suspect. Through that, police began to investigate 65-year-old Elroy Harrison, a Stafford County resident
The investigation into Harrison began in February 2024. On March 4, Harrison was indicted by a Stafford County grand jury on multiple charges, including first-degree murder, abduction with the intent to defile and aggravated malicious wounding of Lard. Harrison has not yet been charged in relation with Baker’s murder, Fairfax County officials said, but an investigation is ongoing.
Elroy Harrison was arrested on March 5, and remains in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. He has been denied bond, jail records show.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jacqueline’s and Amy’s family and friends and we hope this arrest can bring them some peace,” the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-man-arrested-elroy-harrison-dna-cold-case-murders-80s/
Elroy Harrison More News
Stafford County, Virginia, investigators arrested a suspect Tuesday in connection to two cold case murders that occurred in 1986 and 1989, after advancements in DNA forensics led to his identification.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office announced that 65-year-old Elroy Harrison was indicted on Monday on charges of first-degree murder, abduction with intent to defile and aggravated malicious wounding, in the death of 32-year-old Jacqueline Lard.
In a post on Facebook, the sheriff’s office said Lard was last seen on Nov. 14, 1986, when she was working at Mount Vernon Realty in the 300 block of Garrison Road.
The office closed at 9 p.m. that night, though Lard never made it home
The next morning, employees of other businesses in the area were getting ready to open for the day and discovered a scene at the realty office that indicated there was some sort of horrific struggle, the sheriff’s office said.
Both Lard and her vehicle were missing from the scene, and detectives from the sheriff’s office, with the help of the Virginia State Police Crime Scene Unit and the FBI, processed the scene and collected evidence, including blood.
On Nov. 16, 1986, two juveniles were playing in a wooded area in Woodbridge, Virginia when they discovered a body under a pile of discarded carpet. Stafford’s detectives also processed that scene, along with the FBI and Prince William detectives, and the body was identified as Jacqueline Lard.
Her missing vehicle was found on Dec. 18, 1986, in Fairfax County, which also presented investigators with additional evidence to process.
While investigators from all the agencies involved exhausted all the leads, none led to the identification of a suspect and the case went cold.
As forensic investigative genetic genealogy improved, Stafford County Sheriff D.P. Decatur, Jr. and Detective D.K. Wood pounced at the opportunity to use the advancements to possibly identify the killer.
Wood worked with Parabon NanoLabs, which provides DNA phenotyping, to analyze the DNA found at the crime scene, which linked the murder of Lard to the unsolved murder of Amy Baker, who was murdered in Fairfax County in 1989.
Stafford and Fairfax County investigators worked together to bring the murder suspect to justice, and on Dec., 14, 2023, they were able to get a name.
Following up on leads created by modern technology, investigators obtained a search warrant to get DNA from Harrison, and in February, the Department of Forensic Science reported the DNA was a match.
Harrison was indicted by a Stafford County grand jury on Monday, and he was arrested Tuesday.
He has since been placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail and is being held without bond.
The Fairfax County Police Department is collaborating with prosecutors to establish charges against Harrison for Baker’s murder, as well.
According to the Fairfax Police Department, 18-year-old Baker was last seen leaving a relative’s house in Falls Church on the night of March 29, 1989.
Her car was found on the side of Interstate 95 later that night. Amy’s body was found on March 31, 1989, in a wooded area off the same interstate.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-man-arrested-dna-forensic-advancements-link-cold-case-murders
