Suspect killed by police in shootout has now been linked by DNA to 1981 cold-case murder
Debra Lee Miller, 18, was found murdered in her Ohio apartment on April 29, 1981
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A decades-old cold case murder has been solved after the killer was fatally shot by police in a shootout at an Ohio motel last month.
For 43 years, the murder of Debra Miller haunted the town of Mansfield. The 18-year-old waitress was found brutally beaten to death in her apartment on April 29, 1981. Her case remained a mystery, until now.
Police in Mansfield say Miller was killed by James Vanest, a 68-year-old suspect killed last month during a shootout with police in Stark County, who has now been linked through DNA analysis to Miller’s slaying.
"The DNA evidence collected from multiple items, when analyzed alongside the findings in Mansfield police detective Terry Butler’s investigation, establishes proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Vanest committed the murder of Debra Miller on April 29, 1981," Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said on Monday, according to WJW. "Because of this, we now consider the case closed.”
Vanest, who was 25 years old and living in the same apartment building as Miller at the time of the killing, had been questioned during the initial investigation but was never identified as a suspect.
DNA evidence that was collected from the scene had been carefully preserved in storage for the past four decades. It showed the level of brutality and how hard Miller fought for her life, investigators said.
“We were looking at things that the victim was bound up with. We were looking at bodily fluids, including the blood that was found there,” Richland County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Brown said during a press conference on Monday. “We also talked about what we perceived to be the murder weapons, which in this case were pots, pans and oven grates.”
Vanest was interviewed again in 2021, where he admitted that he lied to investigators about the story he previously told them about chasing a homeless man away from Miller’s door on the night of her murder. He had claimed that she invited him inside and that she was fine when he left her building.
The same year, investigators were able to identify a link between the DNA evidence and Vanest with the help of modern technology.
When investigators attempted to question Vanest in June 2024, he refused, sold his home in Canton, bought a pickup truck and trailer and fled to West Virginia. He was arrested and indicted on federal weapons charges.
Vanest posted bond and returned to Stark County where he hid out at the Rodeway Inn in Jackson Township.
When authorities attempted to serve an indictment on federal gun charges, he barricaded himself inside and exchanged fire with the authorities.
During the shootout, Vanest was fatally shot by one of the members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and the Canton Regional SWAT team.
“This is a sad and tragic case,” Chief Bammann said. “Although, the closing of this case does not bring Debra back and it does not replace the last 43 years that this family has had to endure. However, we hope this closing of the case brings some closure to them finally.”