44 years later, Raleigh police say they know who raped and murdered 77-year-old woman

Forty-four years after the crime, Raleigh police said Wednesday that investigators had solved the 1977 rape and murder of Alma Jones.

Police say Jones, 77, was killed by Paul Crowder, who died in 2015 at 72.

The incident took place on Dec. 24 on Sawyer Road, south of downtown Raleigh.

Crowder was 35 and lived in the same neighborhood as Jones, police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan said.

He was identified through a DNA profile of the suspect, which matched a saliva sample taken from a living relative.

Hourigan said no suspects were originally identified, and did not say how Crowder became a suspect in the case.

The case was revived in 2011 when a box containing the case files was discovered during “a transfer of older case boxes” that predated electronic filing.

After consulting with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, the case was exceptionally cleared, police said. Cases can be cleared by exceptional means when an offender has died or when witnesses decline to cooperate with prosecutors, among other reasons.

In a news release, Police Chief Estella Patterson praised the “diligent, thorough investigation” conducted by detectives.

“While we recognize that this conclusion will not ease the pain and loss the family has experienced, we are pleased that they finally have resolution to something they have lived with for a long time,” she said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 11:28 AM.