A cold case involving the murder of a Marine’s spouse has finally been cracked, nearly four decades later.
On April 19, 1979, Karen Johnson was found beaten and strangled to death in her home in Jacksonville, North Carolina. She was 20 years old at the time.
The Connecticut native married her high school sweetheart– Gary Johnson –a Camp Lejeune Marine who was deployed when his bride of just three months was murdered.
The main suspect in the murder was Roger Pollard, who was in the same Marine unit as Johnson.
Johnson said Pollard didn’t like him. “(Pollard) knew I was out on maneuvers,” he told myrecordjournal.com. “He did this because he didn’t like me.”
Investigators said they had almost everything they needed to put Pollard away back then, but just couldn’t put him in the right place. Four decades later, with new forensic evidence and new witnesses, they were able to make the arrest.
“He looked at me, he wasn’t sure. I took my glasses off and pointed at him. His mouth quivered. That alone was worth the 12 hours down there,” Johnson said about seeing Pollard in court.
NCIS and the FBI worked over the last 37 years with the Onslow County Sheriff’s office to solve the case, WCTI reported.
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