American from Missouri indicted for 1966 murder based on DNA evidence / The victim, a woman, was stabbed approximately 125 times

A 79-year-old man from Missouri has been indicted for killing a woman in her home in the suburbs of Chicago – a crime that took place almost six decades ago, AP reports, News.ro reports.

James Barbier was arrested on Monday at his home in the district of St. Louis and charged with first degree murder in the November 1966 death of 18-year-old Karen Snider in Cook County, Illinois.

The discovery came when police reopened the old case and sent the blood samples to a lab in December 2022, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The blood matched Barbier’s.

The prosecutor’s office announced that Barbier was released on Thursday – prosecutors did not try to keep him in prison because of his age and “physical infirmity”. He is not allowed to leave Missouri or Illinois and has been asked to give up his passport and firearms. He will have another hearing in court on May 21.

It is not known if Barbier has a lawyer.

Snider’s body was found by her husband, Paul, on the night of Nov. 12, 1966, after he returned late to their home in Calumet City, Illinois, prosecutors wrote in court documents. The couple’s two-month-old daughter was in a crib, unharmed.

Karen Snider was stabbed about 125 times, according to the medical examiner. Barbier, who worked with Paul Snider at a railroad yard, was arrested in 1966 but not charged at the time. The authorities did not say why.