The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office has linked a dead Mantua resident to two unsolved murders in 1993 and 1994.
Investigators were able to connect Francis Schooley to the crimes via interviews and DNA samples from families.
In the first case, 24-year-old Marabeth Welsh of Woodlynne was found dead in Camden after being sexually assaulted and strangled. A year later, 16-year-old Jennifer Persia was discovered to have been stabbed and strangled in her Magnolia home.
DNA was collected from both crime scenes, with no matches found. But the connection to Schooley eventually resulted from more advanced and thorough genealogy research over the years. He also was seen with Welsh prior to her death, according to the prosecutor’s office, and had ties to Persia’s stepfather.
Schooley died by suicide in 2000, at 39. Had he lived, authorities say, he would have been charged with the crimes.
