RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — An arrest has been made in the death of a 75-year-old woman killed in Riviera Beach three decades ago, according to police.
Police in Riviera Beach held a news conference Monday morning to announce the Jan. 30 grand jury indictment of Willie Rodgers.
WATCH BELOW: Police announce indictment in 30-year-old Riviera Beach cold case
"Justice has been served after 30 years," Riviera Beach Police Chief Michael Coleman said.
Rodgers faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the 1995 death of Earnestine Mortimore, who was killed inside her house.
John MacVeigh, the lead detective in the case, said Rodgers is currently jailed and serving a sentence on unrelated charges.
The case was re-opened in 2023 and Rodgers' blood linked him to the case, investigators said.
MacVeigh said burglary or robbery was a motive in the case. Rodgers lived in the neighborhood at the time of the deadly attack, according to the detective.
"We had samples from (when Mortimore was killed) on people in the neighborhood, and Mr. Rodgers was one of them," MacVeigh said. "We had his blood sample from back then. We then went through and began looking at items of evidence inside the crime scene that were possibly not tested or needed to be re-tested."
The detective said that evidence was sent to a facility in Virginia for testing and it linked Rodgers to the case.
"There's too many murders in this town that just went cold for years," MacVeigh said. "(We're) hoping now that people seeing this will come forward (in other cases)."
Coleman said his department will "aggressively seek justice" for cold case victims from as far back as 50 years ago.
