DNA evidence exonerates little sister of 15-year-old murdered in 1984, NC cops say
A 15-year-old girl’s grandfather found “her bloodied, naked body” in his North Carolina home after returning from the grocery store one day in June of 1984.
The unsolved murder of Reesa Trexler shook the small town of Salisbury, roughly 40 miles north of Charlotte, and prompted rumors that the girl’s 13-year-old sister was involved in her death. Appearing on an episode of “Dr. Phil” last year, the sister took a polygraph test to prove her innocence.
Now — thanks to DNA evidence — police have a suspect.
In a press conference Tuesday, the Salisbury Police Department said a black man with a criminal record likely murdered Trexler on June 19, 1984, according to the Salisbury Post.
Police did not name the man, but WBTV identified him as Curtis Blair, citing a court warrant.
Police said the man died in 2007. His remains were exhumed in June for a forensic evaluation, according to the Post.
”The analysis and investigation confirmed the suspect in the case was not a family member as had been speculated,” according to a news release. “With the suspect being deceased, the Salisbury Police consider the case closed and do not anticipate any charges being placed in relation to the homicide.”
Trexler was murdered in the front bedroom of her grandparents’ home, the Post reported. At the time, her grandmother was at the hairdresser and her sister was next door at home.
There were no obvious suspects, but the 15-year-old had been stabbed “repeatedly in the neck and upper chest,” according to the newspaper. A steel blade was still lodged in Trexler’s right shoulder when the autopsy was performed.
Police said Tuesday she was also sexually assaulted, Salisbury Post reporter Shavonne Potts said on Twitter. An “African American hair” was found on her body.
“Witnesses saw a black male running in the area of the crime scene at the time of the homicide,” according to the Post.
Blair reportedly worked two blocks away at Frito-Lay in 1984.
The case went unsolved for 35 years, according to WBTV, but police kept it open.
Interest in the murder was renewed in part after Trexler’s younger sister, Jodie Trexler Laird, appeared on the show “Dr. Phil” in April 2018 to clear her name.
Now in her 40s, Laird was reportedly only 13 when her sister was killed. But she endured “decades of gossip” regarding her innocence, the Post reported in 2018.
Laird passed a polygraph test on air during the episode, telling Dr. Phil “she wanted to prove she had nothing to do with her sister’s murder,” according to WSOC.
Months later, Sgt. Travis Shulenburger announced he was sending evidence to be retested.
“I really want to clear this case for the family,” he said at the time, according to WBTV.
Police revealed Tuesday that evidence included a DNA swab from a sexual assault kit, the Post reported. The lab “developed a male DNA profile” from there.
“Based on genetic, genealogical and circumstantial evidence, Blair was a ‘very strong candidate to be the subject of the unidentified male extracted DNA profile,’ court documents said,” according to the newspaper.
In a memorial group on Facebook, Laird said she was grateful for Shulenburger’s involvement.
“I’ve been telling you all that Shulenburger is on top of things. We’re so grateful that he is on the case making things happen, finally,” she said in a post dated Nov. 3, 2018.
Laird was “instrumental in closing the case,” police said during the press conference, according to the Post.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 1:03 PM.
