A Florida man has been accused of killing the owner of a convenience store 21 years ago in an armed robbery that took place when the suspect was working as a detective for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and knew the victim for monitoring him for a drug investigation.
William Robert Baer Jr., 64, and his ex-wife Melissa Schafer, 50, were arrested after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said DNA and genetic genealogy linked them to the unsolved case and theft from Saad Kawaf in the Deerwood home at the victim’s home. May 1999.
Sheriff Pat Ivey said Friday that Kawaf was fatally beaten and stabbed by two suspects, a white man and a white woman.
Mugshot for William Robert Baer Jr., 64.
(Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)
GOLD STATE KILLER CASE: JOSEPH JAMES DEANGELO JR. CALL GUILTY FOR THE MURDER FOR THE FIRST TIME
The suspects also tied Kawaf’s wife and fled with $ 30,000 in cash.
He said for years the vague description of the suspects was that all investigators had to continue until recently, when DNA evidence was submitted to the Florida state crime lab for genealogy testing and analysis.
Baer was arrested Thursday. Schafer was arrested Friday in Jefferson City, Missouri, Ivey said.
OHIO POLICE SAY COLD CASE MURDER OF 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL SOLVED WITH DNA, GENETIC GENEALOGY
Baer worked for the sheriff’s office for 27 years before retiring in 2002.
“All the information we have so far points to his initial knowledge of the victim directly from his assignment here at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office,” Ivey said of Baer.
Ivey added that at the time of the murder, Baer was a detective in the intelligence unit who was “looking at something that had to do with the victim, a crime that involved the victim.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
WTLV-TV quoted sources as saying that prior to the murder, Baer had been monitoring Kawaf’s home as part of an intelligence unit investigation into allegations that Kawaf was involved in the illegal sale of pseudoephedrine.
Baer worked as a private eye after retiring as a detective, according to the station.
Kawaf’s niece told the station that her family was grateful that arrests had been made.
“The last 21 years have been the most difficult not only without a man who meant a lot to our family, but also knowing that the people who did this were not responsible for his actions,” he said.
