Fairfax Police Close 30-Year-Old Case

FAIRFAX, Va. -- DNA has linked a 1979 homicide to a suspect who died in a car crash in 1995.

DNA testing of evidence in August linked Douglas Lee Simmons to the death of John Bell, who was 68 at time. Investigators closed the case after talking to Simmons' friends, family and associates and ruling out any other possible suspects, police said.

Bell and his sister, Mary Bell, 84 at the time, were victims of a burglary at Mary Bell's Oakton home. John Bell fought with the intruder and was stabbed several times, police said. Mary Bell was injured but survived.

The intruder's hair was pulled out and his bandana fell to the floor as he fled, police said.

Investigators believe Simmons, who was 18 at the time, only intended to commit a simple burglary, police said. He died in a crash at age 34.

Mary Bell died in her mid-'90s in 1988.

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