A cold case murder investigation from the mid-1970s has been solved by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from new DNA testing technology.
On June 5, 1976, Carol Sue Klaber, 16, was found brutally murdered in a roadside ditch on Chambers Road in Walton. The Kentucky State Police investigation determined that Klaber died from blunt force trauma. She also displayed signs of being strangled and sexually assaulted.
KSP, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said, worked the case for a decade “before it went cold.”
In 2017, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office established a Cold Case Unit comprised of Det. Tim Adams and Det. Coy Cox, and immediately began investigating Klaber’s murder.
“Detectives learned that evidence of the suspect’s DNA was collected in 1976 as well as the suspect’s fingerprints,” the sheriff’s office said. “In the years that followed, Adams and Cox targeted two credible suspects, however, they were later forensically ruled out.”
Then, in September 2022, the sheriff’s office partnered with Othram Inc., an advanced DNA testing company out of The Woodlands, Texas, to determine if advanced forensic DNA testing might establish the identity of a suspect or a close relative of the suspect.
Adams and Cox then sent Othram a DNA extract developed from the crime scene.
“Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown suspect,” according to the sheriff’s office. ”Once the profile was built, Othram’s in-house genealogy team used forensic genetic genealogy to produce investigative leads” which were passed on to Adams and Cox.
During a follow-up investigation, the sheriff’s office said detectives positively identified the murder suspect as then-19-year-old Thomas W. Dunaway, of Park Hills.
“Dunaway developed an extensive and violent criminal history over the years and died in 1990 at the age of 33,” police said. Detectives met with the Klaber family and notified them of their findings.
(Headline photo: Carol Sue Klaber, both photos courtesy of the Boone Co. Sheriff’s Office)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
