ABC7 Chicago: DNA Solves the 1981 Murder of Juanita Boyd, a LaPorte Courthouse Worker

In February 1981, Juanita Boyd went out for the evening in LaPorte, Indiana, and never came home. For 45 years, her family waited for someone to say who took her life. On Tuesday, November 10, the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office said it finally has that answer.

Sheriff Ronald Heeg told reporters that DNA evidence and forensic genealogy had identified the man investigators say killed her. "Although cold, it was never forgotten about, and it was looked on by several generations of police officers throughout the years," Heeg said, according to ABC7 Chicago. "Today, I'm happy to announce that this case is no longer cold."

Who Juanita Boyd Was

Juanita Boyd was 31 years old. She worked at the LaPorte County Courthouse, and she had a 9 year old son. Capt. Andy Hynek of the Sheriff's Office described her as a loving, nurturing mother who spent all of her time with her boy. He said it was completely out of character for her not to come home the next morning.

That detail matters. Too often, coverage of old murders reduces the victim to a date and a location. Juanita Boyd was a public employee, a neighbor and a parent. Her son grew up without her.

What Happened in 1981

According to investigators, Boyd was last seen at a bar on Lincolnway in LaPorte. WSBT reported that she was reported missing after she did not return home on February 22, 1981.

Six days after she disappeared, her green Pontiac was found stuck in the mud off Forester Road in Coolspring Township. Her body was in the trunk. The Sheriff's Office said she died from asphyxiation, and WSBT reported that she had been strangled and stabbed.

DNA testing did not exist as a police tool at the time. But investigators preserved the evidence they collected, including an undergarment that carried biological material. That decision, made decades ago, is the reason this case could be solved at all.

How DNA Finally Named a Suspect

WSBT reported that the case was reopened in 2013. As DNA testing improved, detectives turned to forensic genetic genealogy, which compares crime scene DNA with family trees built from relatives who share genetic markers.

Detectives used DNA from Boyd's clothing to find a connection to one family. In July of this year, Capt. Derek Allen said, investigators collected a DNA profile from an immediate relative of a potential suspect. By October, the comparison was back. According to ABC7, the analysis showed a probability of 38 trillion to one that the DNA belonged to Carl David Phillips.

Investigators say Phillips was living in LaPorte County at the time of the murder and had lived near the crime scene as a child. Hynek told WSBT that Phillips had served time in the Indiana Department of Correction in the 1970s for armed robberies and believed he was on parole when Boyd was killed.

A Case That Cannot Go to Trial

Phillips died in 2017. The Sheriff's Office said he would have been charged with Boyd's murder if he were still alive. Because he is dead, there will be no trial, no plea and no sentence.

Investigators also said there is no known relationship between Boyd and Phillips. That leaves the hardest question, why, without an answer.

What This Means for Other Families

Members of Boyd's family attended the announcement but declined to comment. Their silence deserves respect. An answer after 45 years can bring relief and fresh grief at the same time.

"I'm hopeful this will help bring peace to this nearly 46 year old case," Hynek said, according to WSBT. "To our community, I believe this will bring hope."

The Sheriff's Office said its investigators are working on three other cold cases. That is the larger lesson here. Evidence kept carefully for decades, combined with patient detective work and new science, can still give families a name.

How You Can Help

Cold cases move forward when people speak up. If you have information about an unsolved case in LaPorte County, contact the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office directly. If you know something about any unsolved homicide in your own community, call your local police department or sheriff, even if the case is decades old and even if the detail seems small.

Sources for this report include ABC7 Chicago and WSBT 22, which covered the Sheriff's Office announcement on November 10. Juanita Boyd's name deserves to be remembered, and her family deserves the peace that this answer may bring.