ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. -- The cold case murder of 21-year-old Elizabeth Foster, which has been unsolved for 20 years, has been cleared.
A DNA match connected Paul Eugene Rowles, 64, as the suspect in the case, according to a release from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. Detective Heather Phillips was notified of the match.
Rowles is currently serving a life sentence for first degree murder and is a registered sex predator. The State Attorney's Office will now determine how the case will be prosecuted, the release said.
Foster told her roommate on March 15, 1992 at around 12:30 p.m. that she was going to a park to read. She and her blue Honda CRX were reported missing the next day.
Her vehicle was found on March 18, 1992 in the parking lot of what was formerly the Brown Derby restaurant on U.S. 441. Her body was found on March 26, 1992 in a shallow grave east of U.S. 441.
The autopsy performed on her determined that she had died as a result of being beaten, and that she was sexually assaulted.
First Coast News