LPD solves the 1976 murder case of Elizabeth Ann Price with help of new DNA technology
After nearly 50 years, the Lubbock Police Department has been able to solve the murder of Elizabeth Ann Price, which was committed by a juvenile at the time.
On April 10, 1976, officers were called to the 6200 block of North Cedar Avenue — what was known as the Lubbock Regional Airport, according to a release from LPD.
Upon arrival, officers located Price, a 44-year-old mother of five, dead in the gatehouse, according to A-J archives. Detectives immediately began investigating the scene, which was quite expansive, according to LPD, and interviewing possible suspects and potential witnesses.
According to previous reporting by the A-J, Price's job required her to remain in an isolated area of the airport's parking lot gatehouse.
Investigators believe she was killed between midnight and 1 a.m. and was dragged about 180 feet from the parking lot gatehouse to a hangar and back again.
A co-worker arriving to relieve her about 5:50 a.m. found her partially-clad body sprawled in a chair in the ticket booth. She appeared to have been stabbed about 20 times in the chest.
The pathologist who autopsied Price told the A-J at the time that he "couldn't rule out" that she was sexually assaulted.
Previous A-J reporting stated that police could not find the murder weapon on the scene, with police asking the public for help days after Price was killed due to the night's events being unclear.
Investigators collected and submitted evidence to the Lubbock Department of Public Safety Lab in 1976, according to the release; however, no tangible leads were developed due to the limited laboratory technology at the time.
Police also conducted more than 260 interviews from 1976 to 1984, but none proved fruitful.
In 1984, Henry Lee Lucas, now notorious for confessing to murders he didn't commit, was charged with Price's murder after confessing. However, the charges were dismissed in 1985 when it was revealed that his confession was false.
Over the next few decades, the case was transferred to different investigators, hoping that a new set of eyes or additional technological development might uncover something previously unknown. In 2002, evidence was submitted to the Lubbock DPS Lab four separate times, hoping that new DNA technology would break the case. However, it did not.
The Texas Rangers received the SAKI grant in March 2021, which funded the investigation and prosecution of cold-case sexual assaults. On April 19, 2021, with the grant funding, the Texas Rangers suggested that LPD submit previously untested evidence from Price's case.
In May 2022, with the help of new technology, laboratory testing discovered unknown foreign DNA on the newly submitted evidence. Three months later, with the help of SAKI grant funding, the DNA was submitted to Bode Technology Group in Lorton, Virginia, for genealogical testing.
Bode was able to link the DNA to a family. One of the members of that family tree was deceased but their DNA was available for comparison.
The suspect's DNA was submitted to the Lubbock DPS Lab, and on Jan. 18, 2023, it was identified as Price's killer.
Further investigation determined the suspect was a stranger to Price.
Lubbock police officials said state law bars them from identifying the suspect as they were a juvenile at the time of the crime.
No charges will be filed due to the suspect being deceased, with LPD stating that there is no continued threat to the public.
According to the release, this breakthrough in the case came about with the collaboration of the Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit, the Texas Rangers Cold Case team, the Lubbock Department of Public Safety Lab, the Lubbock Police Department's Forensic Investigations Unit, and the Madison County Sheriff's Office in Georgia.
(A-J reporters Alex Driggars and Gabriel Monte contributed to this story.)
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock police solve 50-year-old cold case of Elizabeth Ann Price
