The alleged murderer of a Minnesota woman found beaten and strangled inside her home more than three decades ago has been arrested and charged with her death.
Michael Allan Carbo Jr., 52, of Chisholm, was charged with second-degree murder for the 1986 murder of Nancy Daugherty, also of Chisholm. Bail was set at $ 1 million Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
“This is the day that Nancy Daugherty’s family and all of Chisholm have waited for more than 34 years,” Chisholm Police Chief Vern Manner said Wednesday during a press conference.
Daugherty was last seen alive just after midnight on July 16, 1986. She was 38 at the time, a mother of two, and working in a nursing home. The night before her death, Daugherty had dated a friend and was planning to move from Chisholm to the Twin Cities the next day, Manner said.
When her friend appeared to help her move the furniture, Daugherty did not answer the door or the phone. The friend and a concerned neighbor called the police for a wellness checkup. They found Daugherty beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. Evidence points to a physical fight both inside and outside the home, and witnesses reported hearing a woman scream in the early hours of the morning, Manner said.
“My mother loved helping people,” wrote her daughter Gina Haggard in a statement read by Manner.
Haggard described a family trip to Alaska when he helped accident victims until they could be flown to a local hospital.
“He was happy, he loved caring for people and he loved his family,” Haggard wrote in his statement. “So many tears and struggles. She has missed him so much. I miss her love and guidance.
Over the years, investigators collected DNA samples from more than 100 people, but none matched the evidence collected at the scene.
“We chased every tip and lead that came in, but it was always empty,” Manner said.
Earlier this year, police turned to genetic genealogy, which combined DNA testing with genetic screening, to find new leads. Carbo appeared as a possible match.
Agents from the Minnesota Office of Criminal Apprehension and Chisholm police arrested Carbo on Wednesday after a laboratory at the state Office of Criminal Apprehension confirmed that his DNA matched DNA from the crime scene.
Carbo was 18 at the time of Daugherty’s death, lived less than a mile from the crime scene, and attended school with his children, The Associated Press reported.
Carbo’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.
