December 6, 2021
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Nearly four decades after a Florida woman was found beaten to death, her body run over near a Delray Beach train station, city police have arrested a man they believe was responsible for her murder.
Law-enforcement officers took Ralph Williams into custody in Jacksonville on Monday after a grand jury indicted him in the 1983 murder of Carla Lowe, a 21-year-old woman from southern Florida.
The arrest was the first for Delray Beach's cold-case unit, which the department formed in January.
Investigators said new fingerprint technology led them to Williams, who is believed to have killed Lowe on Nov. 13, 1983, while she waited at an Amtrak train station.
"This is the exact reason why the cold-case position was initiated earlier this year," Delray Beach Police Chief Javaro Sims said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the department's headquarters. "To help bring some level of closure to the families who have lost any hope of justice for their losses."
There was no apparent connection between Lowe and Williams, and a motive for the murder was not known, Detective Todd Clancy, the leader of Delray Beach's cold-case unit, said Tuesday.
Clancy said new technology from a company based in England helped investigators obtain fingerprints from a piece of evidence that was left at the scene.
"We weren't able to get this fingerprint in the old traditional way that crime scene would get fingerprints," he said. "There's a new process out there by the Foster & Freeman company based out of the UK, and they have a new machine out there and it's able to get a fingerprint."
Detectives did not elaborate on where the fingerprint was found, saying the investigation remains open.
As Clancy and current and former Delray Beach investigators spoke, members of Lowe's family watched nearby. They did not speak at the news conference and left without taking questions. Jackie Lowe-Repass, Carla's sister, later released a statement through police.
"I just want the world to know Carla was a good person," Lowe-Repass' statement said. "She was a beautiful and giving person. She wasn't just a piece of trash that someone threw away."
Tip leads to the arrest of former DeSoto Police Department property and evidence clerk accused of stealing guns from evidence room April 19th, 2024 DESOTO, Texas — DeSoto police say they recovered 13 ...
FDLE criminal probe of Starke Police: Guns, money, drugs among 2,500 pieces of missing evidence April 3rd, 2024 STARKE, Fla. — Action News Jax's Ben Becker is getting answers about a Northeast Florida...
Former Nyssa chief convicted of misconduct, sentenced to jail, loses badge April 3rd, 2024 Ray Rau, Tillamook police chief and former chief in Nyssa, was convicted of official misconduct Wednesday for...