Nearly 40 years after a woman was found dead on the side of a road in Douglas County, investigators have identified a suspect: one of Colorado’s “most prolific serial killers.”
A passing driver found Rhonda Marie Fischer’s body down an embankment in the 3500 block of South Perry Park Road, south of Sedalia in rural Douglas County, on April 1, 1987, according to the sheriff’s office.
Fischer, who was 31 at the time of her death, had been sexually assaulted and strangled, investigators said.
Back then, Douglas County detectives investigated multiple acquaintances with whom Fischer had been staying in the weeks leading up to her death and several “serial offenders” active in the Denver area, but no arrests were made, Sheriff Darren Weekly said in a Tuesday news conference.
Now, 38 years later, the killer has been identified as Vincent Darrell Groves, Weekly said.
“Groves is considered to be one of Colorado’s most prolific serial killers,” Weekly said. “Through DNA and investigative leads, he is believed to be responsible for at least 12 homicides … and, again, there is probably a lot more victims out there that law enforcement has yet to connect the dots on.”
Groves primarily targeted vulnerable women between 1978 and 1988, and was known to victimize hitchhikers. He was convicted of murder in 1982, but spent less than 5 years in prison before being released, Weekly said.
Fischer was last seen alive walking north on Monaco Parkway toward Leetsdale Drive in Denver on the evening of March 31, 1987. It’s unknown where or how she may have met Groves, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office crime lab forensic supervisor Michele Kennedy said during Tuesday’s news conference.
Kennedy said Groves has long been considered a suspect in this case, but other people were also under investigation and detectives needed the DNA profile to be confident.
Groves died in prison in 1996.
“While Groves cannot be held accountable in a courtroom due to his death, today we are able to finally provide answers and resolution to Rhonda’s family and her friends,” Weekly said. “This case underscores our dedication at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to solving these cold cases and embracing new technologies.”
Douglas County investigators tested other evidence for DNA in 2017, including items found with Fischer’s body and swabs taken from her orifices, but couldn’t find any leads, crime lab forensic analyst Shane Williams said.
This year, in February, the sheriff’s office’s cold case team reviewed the evidence again and decided to test one last piece: paper bags placed over Fischer’s hands at the crime scene.
Coroner officers typically bag the hands of victims to preserve any trace evidence, like skin cells, on the hands or under the fingernails, Williams said.
Skin cells on Fischer’s hands — including her own and Groves’ — transferred to the inside of the paper bags, he said.
The medical examiner didn’t put the bags on specifically to preserve the DNA, which wasn’t a common science at the time, but the process had the fortunate side effect of safeguarding the evidence investigators would use to solve the case decades later.
“Obtaining a DNA profile from paper bags nearly 40 years old is exceptionally rare,” Weekly said.
The DNA found on the bags matched evidence from three 1979 homicides committed by Groves in Denver. The match, which Weekly said investigators received in October, was made in the Combined DNA Index System, a national DNA database maintained by the FBI.
Douglas County detectives have solved seven cold cases in the last seven years, which Weekly called “exceptional on any scale.” As of Tuesday morning, 35 of the county’s cold cases remained unsolved.
“We will continue to prioritize cold cases,” Weekly said. “As science evolves, so does our ability to uncover the truth. Our commitment to these investigations — and to the families who await answers — will never waver.”
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