KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU) – A Kosciusko County man was arrested this week for a murder that happened in California more than 50 years ago.
According to Indiana State Police, investigators were asked in 2024 by cold case detectives in San Diego to assist with a 1975 murder case. Indiana investigators helped over the next year and were able to identify 71-year-old Johnnie Ray Salisbury of Syracuse as the suspect.
According to CBS 8 San Diego, Salisbury allegedly killed then-34-year-old Edmund LaFave, whose lifeless body was found in a pool of blood in his bedroom on Feb. 25, 1975. CBS 8 says LaFave had been severely beaten and repeatedly stabbed.
Despite an exhaustive investigation at the beginning of the case, it eventually went cold.
According to CBS 8, investigators identified Salisbury as LaFave’s alleged killer via genetic genealogy, which combines DNA testing with analysis of family histories and other forensic evidence.
It’s unclear at this time if there was a motive for the killing.
Police said Salisbury was taken into custody after investigators from the San Diego Police Department flew to Indiana and an arrest warrant was served on Wednesday.
Salisbury is being held in the Kosciusko County Jail as he awaits extradition back to California.
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