LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas police identified the suspect of two cold cases that happened in the 1990s in the valley.
Lt. Jason Johansson with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section made the announcement at a press conference Monday afternoon.
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"One morning of December 1992," Johansson started." 31-year-old Lori Ann Perera was found in a deserted area in east Charleston. The woman was found nude with ligature marks and bound in both ankles, wrists and also tape."
Police said her cause of death was asphyxiation with strangulation. The homicide section during that time was unable to identify the suspect, leaving the case cold for years.
Next, Johansson introduces another female victim who died in the morning hours of January 11, 1994.
"The body of 35-year-old Pearl Wilson Ingram was found in a dumpster behind a Vons grocery store on east Charleston," he said. "She was found nude waist down, and the cause of death was strangulation."
Johansson continued, saying that in 2007, a sperm fraction from a DNA swab recovered at the time of the autopsy for the murder Perera ultimately identified an unknown DNA profile.
Johansson continued a few years to 2012, when the case of Ingram was under review. During this case review, the LVMPD Homicide Section discovered that both of the homicides were committed by the same suspect.
"Ultimately, in 2022 provided funds by the Vegas Justice League helped identify who the suspect was," he said.
The suspect has now been identified as Eddie George Snowden Jr. Police said he lived at the 2800 block of East Charleston at the time. He also lived - in between the 1950s to 1970s - in the Fresno area of California as well as surrounding areas.
LVMPD investigators were able to obtain DNA from the Fresno Police Department belonging to a family member of Snowden Jr.
The sample confirmed the sexual assault of Ingram and Perera.
"No arrests will be made because of Snowden Jr. died of natural causes in February of 2017 in Las Vegas," Johansson said. However, Johansson said that more cold cases should be reviewed with similar fact patterns.
The sister of Ingram spoke at the media briefing after Johansson stepped off the podium.
"Thank you to the cold case unit, to families, thank you for the much needed closure," she started. "To the garbage man who found my sister, 'thank you,' it has been a long 28 years."
The sister continues to thank the suspect's family and the new technology for this to be possible.
"I'd like to say, if there are any other family members - keep hope alive, keep God first, you too can have your closure," she ended her remarks.
Johansson ended the media briefing by extending a thanks to the Homicide Section, to LVMPD forensics labs and to the Fresno Police Department and The Vegas Justice League for the continued support to find justice for all victims of homicides and to find some resolution or closure.
