Donna Lee Kelly was killed in 2004. Her body was found stuffed in the trunk of her car.
No arrests were made until a few days ago, when the LA County Sheriff’s Office arrested Richard Allan Munnecke. According to LACSO, they have DNA evidence that links Munnecke to the murder.
This would ordinarily be a cold case of the type I don’t usually cover, but there’s two things that make it interesting:
- Munnecke is a former director of the Tournament of Roses parade. “Munnecke was music committee chairman for the Tournament of Roses in 1998-99 and Bandfest director in 1997.” It is believed that Munnecke and Kelly met, and developed a romantic relationship, while both worked on the parade.
- In spite of the fact that LACSO has DNA evidence, and apparently DNA evidence that was strong enough for them to make an arrest, the DA is refusing to file charges. This just seems odd to me. Maybe I don’t understand the way cops and the DAs office work, but I would have figured that LACSO would have gone to the DA with their evidence (especially on a cold case) in advance, and said, “Look, if we make an arrest, will you prosecute, given what we’ve got?” Am I wrong? Do they not talk to each other?
Edited to add 2/11: Longer followup story in the LAT, which goes into more detail about the evidence and the DA’s rejection.