PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — A nearly half-a-century mystery in the brutal killing and rape of a teen in Canada appears to have been solved nearly 900 miles away - buried in a Putnam County, West Virginia, cemetery.
The body of Franklin Maywood Romine was exhumed Tuesday at a rural cemetery in Fraziers Bottom after DNA evidence linked him to the death of
16-year-old Sharron Prior.
On March 29, 1975, the teen left her home in Point St. Charles, a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, to meet friends at a nearby pizza parlor. She never made it to the restaurant.
Three days later, her partially nude body was found in a field in Longueuil, Quebec, about 15 miles from where she was kidnapped.
Longueuil police said she had been raped and beaten to death. She was lying on her back in the snow, and her pants had been removed. Police said her underwear was found hanging from a nearby tree.
Investigators said white tape, which they believe was used to restrain her, was stuck in her hair and on her wrists. A blue T-shirt also had been used to restrain her.
An autopsy report concluded she died of asphyxiation and from numerous facial fractures.
The case would eventually turn into one of
Canada's most high-profile cold cases that saw more than 100 suspects investigated but never any arrests. Now, though, DNA evidence from the scene has linked a West Virginia man dead for 40 years to the crime.
"It's a combination of the most evil element in the human race, contacting the most innocent element in the human race – a child,” Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Sorsaia said.
The combination of evil and innocence has haunted Longueuil for nearly 50 years.
"Some things are worse than death - losing a child like that, for a family, for a mom. To know that your child died that way," Sorsaia said.
Prior's mother, Yvonne, 85, still lives in Canada. She, along with Sharron's surviving three siblings,
have made it their life's mission to get justice for Sharron and find her killer.
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