Police Solve 1964 Rape, Murder of Girl With DNA, Volunteer

Police Solve 1964 Rape, Murder of Girl With DNA, Volunteer
A poster of Marise Ann Chiverella is displayed with a vase of flowers and a trooper's hat at a Pennsylvania State Police news conference in Hazleton, Pa., on Feb. 10, 2022. Michael Rubinkam/AP Photo
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HAZLETON, Pa.—DNA and a 20-year-old genealogy expert helped state police identify the man who abducted, raped and murdered a young girl in a case that rattled a Pennsylvania coal town nearly six decades ago, officials announced Thursday.

State police exhumed the long-dead assailant’s body last month and said his DNA precisely matched DNA left on the jacket of the victim, 9-year-old Marise Ann Chiverella, who was snatched on the morning of March 18, 1964, as she walked to school in Hazleton, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.