WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (AP) - A central Wisconsin man has been arrested and charged in a killing 35 years ago, authorities said Thursday.
Officials from Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Department of Justice said John Sarver, 57, of Port Edwards, is charged with first-degree murder in the November 1984 death of 73-year-old Eleanore Roberts.
Roberts’ son found her dead in the bathroom of her home in the Town of Saratoga. She had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death.
According to the complaint, three palmprints found in Roberts’ bathroom matched Sarver’s right palm. The complaint also said a ski mask found near the victim’s home had hairs with DNA that could have come from the defendant.
The only items missing from Roberts’ home were her phone, a pair of scissors and a knife, according to the complaint. The phone later was found in the Wisconsin River, and a scissors and a knife matching those missing items were found about one-and-a-half miles away from her home.
In December 1984, an investigator interviewed Sarver, who said he was with another person shooting pool on the night of Roberts’ death on Nov. 26, 1984. But after the defendant’s palmprints were identified in 1988, the witness said he did not recall ever shooting pool with Sarver.
Court records do not list an attorney who could comment on Sarver’s behalf.
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