Ohio man arrested, charged in 1991 slaying of woman

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — DNA from distant relatives has been used to help identify a suspect in the 1991 slaying of an Ohio woman, authorities said.

Daniel Rees, 57, of Akron, was arrested earlier this week and charged with aggravated murder, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

Online records don’t list an attorney for Rees, who is accused in the March 1991 slaying of Rachael Johnson in Akron. An autopsy showed Johnson was beaten, sexually assaulted, stabbed and set on fire.

Her autopsy provided a DNA profile of the likely killer, but no matches in any DNA databases were found, Akron police Detective James Pasheilich said.

Texas-based Advance DNA LLC began working on the case last year, connecting the known DNA profile to distant relatives of a possible suspect. That work helped investigators pursue other leads, including gathering DNA from trash at Rees’ home that matched the previously unidentified profile.

“You’re trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Pasheilich said. “In this case, we have.”