Denver authorities said Monday that through DNA evidence matched last week, they have identified a man — now dead — suspected in the 1985 murder and sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.
Daniel Fellovetr, 56, a convicted rapist, was identified when his genetic profile was linked to the case, the Denver district attorney’s office announced in a news release.
“Fellovetr had been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in an attack that occurred just two months after (Tracey) Wooden’s murder in 1985,” the release said. “He was sentenced to prison in that case and died in the Colorado Department of Corrections in 2006.”
The body of 16-year-old Tracey Wooden was found in August 1985 in an alley in Lower Downtown Denver.
“She had been seen alive just 90 minutes earlier, leaving a local hospital following treatment for minor injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident,” the release said. “The cause of her death was determined to be strangulation, and she had been sexually assaulted.”
City authorities said an investigation into her death had been ongoing without success until new developments were made earlier this year.
Prosecutors say law enforcement met with Wooden’s family to update them on the identification.
“They appreciated the fact that Wooden’s murderer is now known and that he was only free for two months before being arrested and then dying in prison,” the release said.
