‘I-65 Serial Killer’ Finally Identified By Police As Harry Edward Greenwell After 30 Years

After 30 years of trying to track down the killer responsible for several murders and sexual assaults in locations along the Interstate 65 corridor that goes through Kentucky and Indiana, police have finally identified the mysterious killer.

The killer was reportedly responsible for three murders, two of which were within two days of each other in the late 80s, and one other sexual assault that occurred in 1990. These incidents happened at Days Inn locations in Indiana and Kentucky by the highway, and the victims were all working overnight shifts at the hotels. The killer, who got the moniker the “I-65 Killer,” was revealed by Indiana Police to likely be Harry Edward Greenwell.

In a statement on Tuesday, Indiana State Police revealed that Greenwell had an extensive criminal history which went from 1963 to 1998. Greenwell died in 2013, and Police superintendent Douglas Carter said in their press conference, “I hope that today might bring a little bit of solace to you, to know that the animal who did this is no longer on this Earth.”

The killer was identified so long after the fact through what is called investigative genealogy, which involves comparing crime scene DNA with genealogy data to be able to locate any genetic relatives that could track police to the original offender.

Kim Gilbert Wright, an attorney and daughter of one of Greenwell’s victims, Jeanne Gilbert, said she was “extremely grateful” to law enforcement, but acknowledged, “Some others might feel anger that the person has passed and is not able to face that trial and to face the peers that would judge him in his actions.” Gilbert Wright also added, “And in our case, we’ll never know what the killer was thinking, we’ll never learn the whys of his actions. And that’s just where we sit today.”