Composite images released in unsolved 1975 stabbing death in Lancaster County

• Mark Scolforo/The Associated Press
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(Lancaster) — Prosecutors released composite images Thursday of a man who left DNA at the scene of a 19-year-old midstate woman’s unsolved fatal stabbing nearly 44 years ago.

The Lancaster County district attorney made the new images public and provided other fresh details in hopes the public can help identify a suspect.

Lindy Sue Biechler was killed in the living room of her suburban Lancaster apartment the evening of Dec. 5, 1975, after she returned from grocery shopping.

District Attorney Craig Stedman said the man who left DNA at the scene is likely fair-skinned, very likely has hazel-colored eyes, and probably has dark hair and no freckles. He has southern European and Middle Eastern ancestry.

“As of about a week ago, a person we considered under the web of possible persons of interest was cleared,” Stedman said. “There is work being done daily on this case. We could use information from the public.”

There was evidence at the scene suggesting a sexual motive for the attack, and Stedman said investigators believe the killer knew Biechler.

The composite images of the potential suspect are based on the DNA taken from semen recovered from the victim. His age at the time is not known, but the composites are a best guess as to how he might have looked at age 25, and now at about age 65.

Prosecutors said a genealogical analysis has yielded significant leads that are being pursued.

Authorities said DNA, including information about the possible suspect’s nationality and ethnicity, has ruled out Biechler’s husband and others as being the man who left genetic material at the homicide scene. Biechler’s husband was not involved in her death, Stedman said.

“Lindy’s family, including her husband, have grieved for decades without an answer as to who took their loved one,” Stedman told reporters.

Biechler, a flower shop clerk who had gotten married about a year earlier, struggled with her attacker and suffered 19 stab wounds, including two in her heart.

“It was obvious to anyone looking at this that a struggle had taken place,” Stedman said. “She fought for her life.”

The attacker is believed to have used two weapons, a butcher knife that was found in the victim’s neck and a smaller, thin-bladed knife that was not recovered.

Her aunt and uncle discovered her body less than an hour after the attack, Stedman said.

LNP newspaper has reported that Biechler’s tombstone was vandalized a year after she was killed, and investigators received a letter, purportedly by the killer, warning he was “capable of killing again.”