Investigator sought evidence in 1967’s ‘Lost Colony Murder.’ Here’s what he found.
The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation has hit a dead end in its search for DNA evidence in the July 1967 “Lost Colony Murder.”
Tony Cummings, a cold-case detective working for the SBI in Eastern North Carolina, said in the spring he would be reaching out to the agencies that had investigated the strangling death of Brenda Joyce Holland, a college student from Canton who was working as a makeup artist for the 1967 run of the famous outdoor drama in Manteo when she was killed.
The state was prompted to give the case another look when journalist John Railey wrote a series of articles about the murder.
Cummings said in April that with advances in DNA technology, it could be worthwhile to see if there was still physical evidence in the case and if so, whether any of it would be suitable for testing.
Cummings said Thursday he could not comment on what he had been able to find, and Patty McQuillan, spokeswoman for the SBI, would not say specifically whether evidence remains in the case. She released a statement from the agency, however, suggesting the search had been unsuccessful.
“While the SBI makes every effort to solve each homicide case when their assistance is requested by other law enforcement agencies, some cases remain unsolved for various reasons. The SBI has been revisiting some older, unsolved cases to see if potential DNA evidence is present that could be analyzed with today’s technology. However, some of these cases may be 30 to 50 years old and most, if not all of the physical evidence has long been destroyed and the case files may have been purged, causing an insurmountable problem and not leaving much for law enforcement to go on with respect to solving cases.”
According to a 1997 story in the News & Observer, records indicate that police suspected Holland’s murder was a case of mistaken identity. Speculation was that a local dentist, Dr. Linus Edwards, had killed Holland in a drunken rage after having a late-night fight with his then-wife.
Edwards’ wife had left the house, and investigators speculated that Edwards went out looking for her, spotted Holland walking home from a date and attacked her, thinking she was his spouse.
Edwards’ former wife said later that he told her several times after the murder that he had killed the young woman. In 1971, Edwards killed himself, leaving no explanation.
Surviving relatives of Holland’s have said that conclusive evidence that Edwards had committed the murder would bring relief to the family.
This story was originally published July 5, 2018 at 5:11 PM.