How technology helped North Myrtle Beach police close a decades-old cold case
A decades-old cold case is now closed after police say they found a suspect, but he died in prison in another state.
Shawn Neal was found dead in a Windy Shores II apartment on June 2, 1996. She was strangled to death at the South Ocean Boulevard complex. The investigation went cold, and police made no arrests.
In 2017, new DNA technology allowed police to test DNA collected in the investigation, according to a Wednesday release from the North Myrtle Beach police.
The technology was not available in 1996, authorities said.
Investigators tested the DNA and created a genetic profile. That profile was then compared to a national database and matched to Ronald Lee Moore.
Moore was a suspect in burglaries, sexual assaults and a murder in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1999. North Myrtle Beach police say the Maryland crimes were similar to Neal’s killing.
Records indicated that Moore died in jail in 2008 in Louisiana while held on unrelated charges, according to North Myrtle Beach police.
Moore’s death meant he could not be charged in connection to Neal’s death, North Myrtle Beach police say. Investigators will end close the case and note the only suspect died.
North Myrtle Beach officers say Moore had no ties to North Myrtle Beach. He did have friends in Louisiana that he would visit.
Authorities say it is possible Moore traveled through The Grand Strand as he ventured from Maryland to Louisiana.
Local police will continue to work with authorities in Maryland, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the FBI to see if there are any other unsolved cases with ties to Moore.
A Ronald Lee Moore was named as a possible suspect in the murder of Hae Min Lee in Baltimore, according to media reports. That murder gained international fame after being featured on the podcast Serial.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
