After 40 years since Katharina Reitz Brow’s murder Massachusetts authorities have discovered who committed the 1980 cold case crime. Authorities revealed that Joseph Leo Boudreau who died after committing violent crimes murdered Katharina Reitz Brow.
DNA evidence finally freed Kenneth Waters after his wrongful 1983 conviction kept him in prison for two decades.
Katharina Brow's body which showed 30 stab wounds and beatings was discovered on May 21, 1980 in their trailer home in Ayer Massachusetts when she was 48 years old.
Massachusetts law enforcement has finally discovered the real murderer responsible for Katharina Reitz Brow's deadly 1980 cold case. The murder was committed by Joseph Leo Boudreau who had passed away and maintained a violent criminal background.
After spending 20 years in prison, Kenneth Waters was exonerated by DNA evidence for the crime he was wrongfully convicted of in 1983.
The attack occurred between 7: The murder took place between 7:10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. while her husband worked at his job. A search of the crime scene revealed evidence of a physical altercation along with the disappearance of her purse and the theft of hidden money from a linen closet. A knife used as a murder weapon remained hidden inside a wastebasket.
The shocking murder of Katharina Reitz Brow in 1980 devastated the Town of Ayer according to Police Chief Brian Gill.
Kenneth Waters received a murder conviction in 1983 because investigators found a bloodstain that corresponded with his blood type. Advanced DNA testing conducted in 2001 established Waters' innocence which resulted in his exoneration after twenty years of imprisonment.
The murder case stayed open for years after the initial conviction was overturned until forensic investigative genetic genealogy solved it in 2022. The DNA evidence examination led investigators to identify Boudreau, who had died in 2004, as the actual perpetrator. In 1975 Boudreau received a conviction for armed robbery.
District Attorney Marian Ryan said that our primary goal has always been to uncover answers regardless of the time that has passed. The family now has long-awaited clarity because we have identified her killer.
The authorities verified that Boudreau and Waters were not connected.
Modern forensics and genetic genealogy have produced a transformative outcome for cold cases through recent developments.
Chief Gill recognized that the case reached a turning point when investigators used forensic genetic genealogy DNA testing. I appreciate the opportunity to finally provide the Brow family with their long-awaited closure.
Boudreau can't face prosecution now that he's dead but discovering his identity ends the Brow family's painful struggle and exonerates the wrongfully accused man.