Authorities in Ohio say a man killed by police during a shootout last month has been identified through DNA evidence as the suspect in a 43-year-old cold case murder.
Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said the cold case of Debra Lee Miller, an 18-year-old waitress beaten to death in her apartment in 1981, was reopened in 2021 to account for advances in DNA technology and forensic investigative techniques.
Miller was among several Mansfield, Ohio, residents whose suspicious deaths in the 1980s were investigated for links to local police. A special investigation ordered by the mayor concluded in 1989 that there was no evidence linking officers to the deaths. The report noted that Miller had written in her diary that she was sexually involved with several Mansfield police officers.
Bammann said Vanest—who was 21 at the time—was questioned but was never considered a suspect until the case was reopened in 2021.
“Their findings were staggering,” Bammann said. “With continual progress in DNA technology and some innovative techniques, a firm DNA profile began to show itself on numerous pieces of evidence.”
Police found Vanest living in Canton, about 100 miles east of Mansfield, in November 2021 and re-interviewed him about Miller’s killing.
Vanest admitted to lying to investigators during his first interview in 1981, and interviewers suspected he was trying to establish an alibi to explain why his DNA was in Miller’s apartment on the night of the murder, Bammann said.
Mansfield Police Detective Terry Butler sought a second interview in the spring of 2024, but Vanest refused to speak and requested an attorney.
Vanest sold his residence and bought a pick-up truck a few weeks after the 2024 interview and departed for West Virginia, leaving behind several firearms at his home in Canton, Ohio.
He was later stopped in West Virginia with two more firearms, arrested on state charges, and released on bond.
He returned to Canton where U.S. Marshals and S.W.A.T. attempted to serve him an indictment at a local hotel on Nov. 18, 2024.
“It is our understanding that when confronted by Marshals and the Canton Regional SWAT team, Mr. Vanest pointed a gun at them and barricaded himself inside the hotel,” Bammann said. “After a short shootout, one Canton SWAT member was shot in the arm, and Mr. Vanest was fatally shot.”
Bammann said there was DNA evidence collected from more items that established “proof beyond reasonable doubt that James Vanest committed the murder.”
“Because of this, we now consider the case closed,” Bammann said. “This is a sad and tragic case. Although the closing of this case does not bring Debra back, or replace the last 43 years, we hope her family can now have some closure.”
