Donna Macho, 19, disappeared from her New Jersey home, and her remains weren't found for 11 years. DNA has identified her killer, authorities said.
Donna Macho was 19 years old when she was killed in February 1984. Her killer has finally been identified through advanced DNA testing nearly 40 years later. Her grave in Texas, where her sister resides, is shown at right.It seemed like any other Saturday night in 1984 to then-14-year-old Julie Macho. She arrived at her family’s East Windsor, New Jersey, home, saw her 19-year-old sister Donna’s car parked outside and went to the basement to hang out with her older sibling.
To this day, Burger doesn’t know what happened that night, only that a decades-long nightmare began the following morning - on Feb. 26, 1984 - when they realized Macho was gone and something was wrong. Burger, who has since moved to Texas, has never before spoken publicly about the tragedy that took her sister and ravaged her family.Photo provided by Julie Burgerafter nearly 40 years of mystery. Advanced DNA analysis of semen found in Donna Macho’s basement was matched to Nathaniel Harvey, a convicted killer who had spent time on New Jersey’s death row and died in prison three years ago.
Over the years, Harvey had been questioned numerous times by police investigating the Macho murder. But there were other suspects as well, and Harvey’s DNA tests in the 1980s and 90s had proven inconclusive. In 1994, Harvey stood trial again and was convicted, then sentenced to death. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007 and he appealed once again. The case eventually went to the state Supreme Court, which ordered new DNA testing, andKleiner said this week he couldn’t comment because he hadn’t seen the DNA test results.
Burger said there were things were strewn about Donna’s normally tidy apartment, clear signs there had been a struggle. When her mother found a pile of blood-stained clothes, she called police.
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