A Georgia girl was murdered in 1972. Her parents died not knowing her killer

Cold-case investigators worked for more than 20 years to identify the man who killed nine-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall

John and Juanita Randall died in recent years without ever knowing who kidnapped, raped and strangled their daughter after she went across the street from their family’s home north of Atlanta, Georgia, to run an errand in 1972.

But authorities never stopped pursuing the truth about nine-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall’s slaying, and this week, their community learned the identity of her killer. By all indications, it was a stranger who ultimately died by suicide, authorities announced, citing the results of an investigation that combined evidence collected shortly after Randall’s death as well as DNA technology.

William B Rose, who was related to people living in the same apartment complex as Randall’s family, had not been a suspect in the case until the DNA technology linked him to Debbie Lynn’s murder.

Debbie Lynn’s brother, Melvin Randall, described the news as “a relief”, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“It’s a relief to my family that it was no one that we knew, and it’s just great that it’s over,” Melvin Randall said, according to the newspaper. “Maybe we can rest about it and not worry about it, wondering who it was. It’s weighed heavy on us for a long time.”

As investigators tell it, Debbie Lynn was last seen alive by her family as she left her home in Marietta for a laundromat across the street. Her corpse turned up 16 days after she went missing, found by a college student who had voluntarily joined a search effort that drew in thousands of people.

Officials determined she had been raped and strangled. But initially, there were no clues pointing to the killer, even as “detectives followed up on hundreds of leads”, Flynn Broady, the local district attorney, said.

The key breakthrough came thanks to a hair as well as a round piece of flowery cloth found alongside Debbie Lynn’s body.

As CBS News reported, a 2001 test that the FBI conducted on the hair narrowed the pool of possible suspects significantly. Testing of the cloth done in about 2015 produced a partial profile of a man who could not yet be completely identified back then.

DNA testing carried out in 2019 – made possible by extra funding – and a re-analysis of the cloth in 2022 brought investigators even closer to answers. Further DNA testing last year then brought investigators into touch with people who were probably related to the killer.

Those relatives supplied DNA samples to assist authorities. And investigators said that evidence convinced them that Rose had murdered Debbie Lynn about two years before he died by his own hand at the age of 24.

Exhuming Rose from his grave and running DNA testing on his body confirmed investigators’ suspicions, Broady said.

Ron Alter, a cold case investigator in Broady’s office, told reporters that he did not believe Rose knew Debbie Lynn. Alter said what most likely happened was he saw her alone, perceived that to be a chance to abduct her and acted on the opportunity.

“I believe that was a crime of opportunity,” Alter said.

Alter also made sure to mention his suspicion that Rose – who had prior arrests for alcohol-related cases – killed himself out of fear that he would be imprisoned for Debbie Lynn’s murder.

Broady and Alter credited advances in DNA technology with positioning authorities to uncover the truth about Rose.

Meanwhile, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, the news about Rose left Melvin Randall with complicated emotions. He recalled the guilt he carried for years because he was sick the day Rose kidnapped his sister, and he couldn’t be at her side when she set out for the laundromat.

He told the newspaper that he remembered knocking on neighbors’ doors and posting flyers, desperately hoping either would help him and his family reunite with his sister, who loved playing baseball with him.

The siblings’ father died last year. Their mother died of leukemia in 2018.

Despite the losses he has endured and the painful circumstances around all of them, Melvin Randall said he was not angry with either Rose or his family.

“I know they’re struggling, going through this, too,” said Melvin Randall, now a grandfather. “It was tough for us, and I’m sure it’s just as tough for them.

“I wish all of them well, and God bless them, and I don’t have any animosity toward them.”

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