JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Detectives with Jacksonville Sheriff's Office say they are getting closer to an arrest thanks to the first break in a nearly 30-year-old cold case.
Mildred Harris was 41-years-old when her body was found on the side of Warrington Street on Jacksonville's Westside on Oct. 15, 1996, according to detectives. They say she was killed by blunt force trauma and because she fought back, they were able to obtain the suspect's DNA.
Now, that suspect's DNA has found a match in their system, detectives say. They explain this is because the suspect committed a felony, though they don't know what, and their DNA was entered into the system.
JSO Cold Case Detective Travis Oliver says they will also now move forward with tracking down two witnesses who were uncooperative in 1996 and may have information about the last person Harris was seen with.
Oliver says speaking with Harris's son, who he says was 15-years-old at the time of her murder, drives detectives even more to seek justice.
"His impact [for] 27 years was the same as the person we talked to the day of the incident, how it's affecting him, his emotions and everything on how it affected him," Oliver said. "When we hear those things, we always want to do our best but, sometimes when you still see 27 years later, the impact that it still has on the children, it makes you want to just go that extra mile."
If you know anything that could help solve this case, call JSO's Cold Case Unit at 904-255-2626 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).