DNA testing has broken open a four-year-old cold case murder of an elderly San Bernardino woman, police said Friday, and connected it to the murder of the victim's friend - and the convicted sex offender sitting in jail awaiting trial for her death.
In 2010, Joanne Ballard found her mother beaten, strangled and robbed inside their family home.
"She's a person who always believed in the goodness of people and always trusted people," Ballard said about her mother, Wanda Lee Paulin.
Detectives have struggled for four years to find her killer.
"The horror of these last four years has been devastating for my family,” Ballard said.
But DNA testing has now linked the man accused of Paulin’s murder to a man already in jail for allegedly killing 76-year-old Mary Beth Blaskey, who was a friend of Paulin’s who attended the same church.
Blaskey was found beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted inside her San Bernardino home.
Investigators said DNA testing connected the two murders to Jerome Rogers, 56, a registered sex offender. He is now facing a number of charges, including two counts of murder.
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"The fact that this person killed both sweet elderly women in our church is just bond belief and horror," Ballard said.
Paulin’s neighbors said they remember seeing Rogers often walking around the neighborhood. They said he was a quiet man who rarely made eye contact.
"Seemed harmless but I've never had a conversation with him, no," said neighbor Tena Schleipman.
Rogers’ defense attorney said Friday that evidence will show someone else committed the murders.
"Of course it's been hard for him,” attorney Hal Smith said. “He's been fighting cancer. He's beaten that, hopefully he'll beat this."
But Paulin's daughter believes San Bernardino police got the right man.
"Hopefully no one will ever have to go through this again from his hands," Ballard said.
