Gerald Lynn Smith Bio – Gerald Lynn Smith Wiki
Gerald Lynn Smith faces charges of murder and other costs related to the death of the 69-year-old Gloria Hansell of Gary, Indiana.
AGE:
Gerald Lynn Smith is 60 years old.
DETAIL OF INCIDENCE:
A Kentucky man has been arrested nearly 30 years after a woman was raped and murdered in her Indiana home.
According to the FBI Indianapolis, Gloria Hansell, a 69-year-old widow, was found strangled on June 17, 1994. She lived alone in the Gary home and relied on an oxygen machine.
The case went unsolved for decades. On Tuesday, the FBI announced Gerald Lynn Smith, 60, of Madisonville, Kentucky, was charged with murder, murder while committing or attempting to commit rape, and rape.
Indiana State Police asked the FBI two years ago to reexamine the evidence. A lab found that male DNA from Hansell’s sexual assault kit matched Smith. With him as their suspect, FBI officials working the case were able to place Smith in Gary around the time of Hansell’s murder and learned that he knew Hansell.
A witness told authorities that Smith had been at Hansell’s house several times in the weeks before her death — he had asked to mow her lawn for money and had made an unwanted advance at her while they were in her home, the FBI said. The then-32-year-old told Hansell he had just moved from out of state to the area.
The FBI’s gang response investigative team asks anyone with information on this case or any other cold case to call 219-942-4899.