On Monday, December 10, 2007, the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office conducted a joint news conference at 2:00 p.m. to announce the filing of formal charges against one person for the following murders Cape Girardeau.

NEWS RELEASE

December 10, 2007                                          

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Earlier today, the Cape Girardeau Police Department filed for, and received charges against,

Timothy Wayne Krajcir (pronounced CRY-CHUR), age 63, for five counts of murder and three counts of rape.  All of these crimes in which Krajcir is charged occurred within the City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri in either 1977 or 1982.

Krajcir is currently incarcerated at the Big Muddy Correctional Center in Ina, Illinois, and has been incarcerated continuously since 1983.

A brief synopsis of the murders and other crimes is listed below:

The murders of Mary and Brenda Parsh. On August 12, 1977, the bodies of a mother and daughter, Mary and Brenda Parsh, ages 58 and 27, were found shot to death in their home at 612 Koch Street. The two bodies were found face down, side by side on a bed, with hands tied behind their backs. Each woman had been shot once in the back of the head with a bullet from a .38 caliber revolver. While the bodies were found on a Monday morning, evidence suggested the murders occurred the previous Friday night when the suspect broke into the Parsh home through a bedroom window and was lying in wait for the victims as they entered the home.

The kidnapping and murder of Sheila Cole. On November 16, 1977, Sheila Cole, a 21 year old SEMO student from Creve Couer, Missouri, was kidnapped from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Cape Girardeau at 211 South Kingshighway sometime between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Her body was found the next day at a rest area near McClure, Illinois. She had been shot twice in the head with a .38 caliber handgun.

The murder of Margie Call. On January 27, 1982, Margie L. Call, age 57, was found dead inside her residence located at 1829 Brink Street. It appeared Mrs. Call had been strangled. Mrs. Call was found lying face down on her bed with her hands folded across her back with ligature marks suggesting her hands were bound behind her back at some point during the incident. She had also been sexually assaulted. Evidence indicated that while Mrs. Call was away from home, the intruder forced his way into her residence through a bathroom window and accosted her as she entered her home.

The murder of Mildred Wallace. On June 21, 1982, Mildred Wallace, age 65, was found dead inside her residence at 1218 William Street. She was found lying face down on her bed and it was obvious that she had been shot once in the head with a .38 caliber handgun. She had also been sexually assaulted. Evidence suggested that while Mrs. Wallace was away from home, the intruder forced his way into her residence through a bathroom window and accosted her as she entered her home.

The rape of Unnamed Victim.  On January 9, 1982, a 34 year old female Cape Girardeau resident was raped and sodomized when an intruder forced his way into her home at gunpoint. Before fleeing the suspect bound the hands of the victim and the victim’s 10 year old daughter behind their back.

After thirty years the logical question is, “How did we get here?” For a number of years, Detective Jimmy Smith has been the unofficial cold case investigator for the Cape Girardeau Police Department. As leads would develop, he would follow-up on those leads and work on the cases as time permitted. In March of this year, we assigned Detective Smith to work full-time on all our cold case homicides. With the advancements in DNA technology, it was important for us to make sure we brought all these cases up to today’s forensic standards.

The real break in our cases developed in late August when the City of Carbondale, Illinois Police Department charged Krajcir with the 1982 murder of Deborah Sheppard.  At that time, Detective Smith began working very closely with Lieutenant Paul Echols of the Carbondale Police Department, and later determined that Krajcir was possibly in Cape Girardeau in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, and that he should be considered a good suspect in any unsolved rapes, and possibly homicides, during that time period.

Detective Smith remembered a reference to a rape in the Mildred Wallace murder investigation, and after further researching the rape, realized that Krajcir probably committed that rape. Due to certain similarities in the rape, the murder of Deborah Sheppard, and the murder of Mrs. Wallace, Krajcir then became a strong suspect in the Mildred Wallace murder.

After speaking to lab technicians at both the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory in Jefferson City, Missouri and Illinois State Police Crime Laboratory in Carbondale, Illinois, Lieutenant Echols emailed the DNA match he received in the Deborah Sheppard murder to a crime lab technician in Missouri. Shortly thereafter we received information from the lab technician that there was a relatively strong DNA match to Krajcir from evidence recovered from the Mildred Wallace murder scene. Later we received information from the crime laboratory that Krajcir’s palm print was also a positive match from a palm print lifted from the Mildred Wallace murder scene.

Since our belief has always been that the four murder cases were related, Krajcir immediately became our primary suspect in all five murders. On November 14, 2007, Detective Smith and Lieutenant Paul Echols interviewed Krajcir and Krajcir denied any involvement in all the above cases. On December 3, 2007, Krajcir was re-interviewed by Detective Smith and Lieutenant Echols, and at that time Krajcir admitted to these murders, to the murder of Deborah Sheppard (which he had already confessed), as well as three other murders in other jurisdictions. We can not make any comments about these three murders, but these jurisdictions are planning to file charges on Krajcir relatively soon.

The successful resolution of these cases is a perfect example of how criminal justice agencies can work together in an effort to better serve the citizens of our communities. In that sense, we owe many thanks to the Carbondale Police Department, the Illinois State Police, the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and their crime laboratory, the Alexander County Sheriff’s Department, the Alexander County State’s Attorney’s office, the Illinois State Police Crime Laboratory, the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Big Muddy Correctional Center Investigations Unit, and the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.  All of these agencies provided significant assistance in the successful resolution of these cases.

Lastly, while today’s news is some of the best news the Cape Girardeau Police Department has ever announced, it is tempered with a degree of sadness and sorrow. While we have brought one person to justice for these vicious crimes, for the family members of the victims there can never be justice. Our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers go out to these victims, and our hope is that we have been able to bring some degree of closure to these families.  

For More Information Contact:

Chief Carl Kinnison

Cape Girardeau Police Department

(573) 335-1635

UPDATE ON KRAJCIR: 

(February 20, 2008)

The investigation of Krajcir has extended into three additional communities.

In Marion, Illinois, investigators said Krajcir has been linked to an unsolved murder dating nearly 30 years.  Virginia Witte was found stabbed to death in her Marion, Illinois home in 1978.  Williamson County filed charges and Krajcir pled guilty in January, 2008 and was sentenced to 40 years.  This murder conviction will run consecutively with a sentence of the same length he received in December, 2007 for a 1982 murder in Carbondale, Illinois.

Pennsylvania State Police said DNA evidence connects Krajcir to the 1979 murder of Myrtle Rupp, 51.  A neighbor found the body of Ms. Rupp, who lived alone. She was raped and strangled.  Pennsylvania is currently awaiting Krajcir’s possible conviction in Cape Girardeau before court proceedings are arranged. 

And finally, police in Paducah, Kentucky suspect Krajcir may be connected to an unsolved murder case involving Joyce Tharp in 1979.  A man delivering flowers to a church discovered her nude body.  Murder charges on Krajcir are pending in Jackson County, Illinois. 

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed extradition papers and asked Illinois Govenor Rod Balgojevich to expedite Krajcir’s transfer to Missouri to face charges.  As a formality, Krajcir must appear before a judge in Alexander County, Illinois before he can appear in the Missouri court system.

Krajcir is currently serving time at the Tamms SuperMax Prison in Tamms, Illinois.