PC: Fox 11 Online
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – DNA testing has solved the 1963 murder of Wayne Pratt, but full details aren’t being released yet.
At a meeting last week of the Judiciary & Public Safety Committee, the sheriff said the suspect from the case won’t be prosecuted, however, because the suspect died about a year and a half ago.
Matz didn’t identify the case at the session, saying victims’ family members still needed to be notified. However, on Monday, Det. Lt. Chris Braman confirmed it is the Pratt case. More details will be released, likely in the next week or two, Braman said.
Sheriff Matz told supervisors new DNA testing cracked the case.
“We were able through new DNA techniques able to identify a suspect in the case. One of those things where we had, about five years ago sent DNA in but the improvements in DNA now, that company recontacted us and we were able to identify a suspect. And it was one of the individuals that we had looked at and had talked to on a couple of occasions,” Matz said.
Pratt was a gas station operator in Neenah who was stabbed more than 50 times.
Pratt was killed on the night of June 13, 1963, after he left his home near the gas station he ran to service a white car that had pulled up. His wife went to investigate when she noticed the station lights hadn’t turned on after about 15 minutes, according to authorities. She found Pratt’s body face down on the floor of the storage room. More than 75 people were questioned shortly after the homicide, and although several suspects have emerged throughout the years, no one had been charged.
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