Man previously cleared of role in 1979 killing of teen girl is now a suspect

California man was then absolved after a polygraph test. Now DNA points to him being the killer – but he is dead

A man who was cleared in the 1979 rape and murder of a teenage girl after passing a polygraph test has now been identified as her suspected killer due to DNA evidence, California authorities announced.

The body of Esther Gonzalez was found in a snowpack off a highway near Banning, California, on 10 February 1979. Gonzalez had been walking from her parents’ home to her sister’s house the previous night when she was attacked, raped and bludgeoned to death, according to authorities. She was 17 years old.