Haunted by his sister’s murder, a brother gets answers more than 46 years later

Detectives sent DNA left by the killer to the victim to a lab to be tested through genetic genealogy, the process by which DNA samples are used to find relatives of suspects, in this case Mr. Dunaway. Detectives traveled to meet one of Mr Dunaway’s children – who had never really known his father – to collect DNA.

“They were shocked,” Detective Cox said of the child, who has not been identified.

Detectives then learned more about Mr. Dunaway’s past: He had killed another individual, Ron Townsend, in northern Kentucky in December 1976 – just months after Ms Klaber was killed – and was serving more than seven years in prison for that crime .

Days after Ms. Klaber’s body was found, he also reported to the US Army. On Christmas Eve that year, he was arrested in South Carolina for burning a Chevrolet Impala and illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun.

On March 1st, Mr. Klaber sat in his chair and recorded all the test results.

The case had traumatized his family, including his older brother, and he had long wondered why he had not sought therapy after seeing what the killer had done to his sister.

He said the sight left him with “a vague darkness somewhere down there.”

His son Daniel Klaber, 28, says that when his father was out late with friends, he frantically called several times and begged: “It’s been too long. Call me. Where are you?”

“Whenever someone was overdue, not only did I start to worry, I expected it would happen again,” senior Mr. Klaber said.

As he processed the detectives’ messages this month, he realized there was one small detail that brought him comfort.