Cold case: Suspect becomes Buddhist monk after 1971 murder of Vermont teacher 

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She told authorities that “Dutch,” could be violent. He once choked her and stabbed a friend with a knife in an unprovoked assault. He was arrested for the stabbing. But there is no record of charges being filed. He died of a drug overdose in a San Francisco hotel in 1989.

Additional DNA testing found a sample strongly associated with DeRoos’s DNA on a jacket Curran had been wearing the day of the killing. While no charges will be filed, the local state’s attorney said the investigation found probable cause that William DeRoos committed the murder.

Curran’s parents died before ever finding out who killed their daughter. Her siblings are grateful that detectives solved the cold case. 

Rita Curran was murdered only two weeks after moving out of the family’s home for the first time.

“I don’t think so much about the guy who did this as I do about Rita and my parents and what they went through,” said her brother, Tom Curran. “I pray to my parents, and I pray to Rita.”