Maureen Fields murder: DNA links woman missing since 2006 to 81-year-old sex offender - after six ye
DNA links woman missing since 2006 to 81-year-old sex offender - after six years of her husband being chief suspect
View
comments
Police have made a breakthrough in a 2006 cold case murder after DNA found in the victim's pantyhose was matched to an 81-year-old Californian sex offender.
Sheriff's detectives in Nye County, Nevada, have been hunting for Pahrump woman Maureen Fields since she disappeared on Valentine's Day six years ago after a fight with her husband Paul Fields.
Mr Fields has been the prime suspect in her disappearance. But DNA, collected at the time from skin found in the 41-year-old's pantyhose, has now been matched to Keith Holmes, after he was arrested in June for attempting to lure a 12-year-old girl into his car.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Victim: Maureen Fields, pictured, went missing in Pahrump, Nevada, in February 2006
Ms Fields was last seen by Wells Fargo Bank co-workers on Valentine's Day 2006. Her husband, Paul Fields, 63, says he last saw his wife leaving for work after an argument.
RELATED ARTICLES
Son, 24, found and arrested after woman's body parts... 
Three men arrested in Denver over robbery-turned-homicide...
Aspiring actress and Maxim model, 21, 'strangled to death by...
Share this article
ShareHer Hyundai was found the next day across the border in Inyo County, California.
Ms Field's purse, credit cards, some blood and the pantyhose were found inside.
Nye County Detective David Boruchowitz said the DNA was submitted to the lab back in 2006 but they failed to find a match.
More than six years later, thanks to breakthrough techniques in DNA testing, the DNA has been identified as that of Mr Holmes.
Breakthrough: Paul Fields, pictured right, had been the prime suspect but DNA found in the woman's pantyhose now points the finger at sex offender Keith Holmes, left
'(Holmes) was recently arrested in California on a sex crime, and so his DNA was in the system, and they were just finally able to match it up,' Mr Boruchowitz told 8 News Now.
Officers have tried to interview Mr Holmes, a registered sex offender who began traveling to Pahrump around the same time Ms Fields went missing.
But they said he was uncooperative and refused to give them information.
Deputies are now appealing to talk with people who know the 81-year-old, who was most likely driving a 1965 Ford camper when the murder took place six years ago.
Evidence: Maureen Fields' abandoned car, pictured, was found off a desert highway in California on February 16, 2006
Mr Holmes has not been charged in this case. He was arrested in June in California accused of trying to lure a 12-year old girl into his car.
He was already on probation after two convictions for molesting or annoying a child.
Officers stopped short of saying the new lead has exonerated Paul Field.
'This is a totally separate branch of the investigation,' Mr Boruchowitz told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'We have not cleared anyone in this case. We still consider it an open investigation.'
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2Fc32YcXByZ32WwrOxxKdkf6GVobG0ecyuqZ2domKRj42MpaCno6NixLC5wKdkpqGjqLavs4xrZ2luXW1%2BbsXEmqlmp5yZerSx12amn56Vo7GmvoxmsJ6Zoqh6qcHSm5innF2YtaqxxWaqrqugmrC1esetpKU%3D