2023-12-22 01:09:00
After nearly four decades, investigators cracked the cold case murder of a U.S. Marine found dead along a North Carolina highway.
The remains of 38-year-old Joseph Russell were discovered Dec. 27, 1984, in Beaufort County, according to the sheriff’s office, WITN-TV and WCTI-TV reported.
Russell died from a deadly knife and hammer attack. At the time, no suspects were named and the case went cold.
Earlier this year, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation reexamined Russell’s murder, and discovered his wife, Flora Russell, took out a life insurance policy shortly before he was killed, according to WITN.
Investigators determined Flora and her lover, Clifton Tydings, devised a murder scheme to execute the marine. Tydings committed the actual killing, authorities said, per the outlet.
The pair are now deceased, but had they still been alive, the Beaufort County District Attorney’s Office confirmed there was enough evidence to charge the duo with murder, the outlet reported. The case was subsequently closed.
The victim and Flora shared a daughter, who was a baby when her father was killed. She said she was grateful for the closure investigators have given her in time for the holidays.
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