MANSFIELD — Lester Eubanks left a piece of himself behind when he raped and murdered 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener six decades ago.
And now, the authorities have it.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced Tuesday it has recovered DNA from clothing the Mansfield man and long-time fugitive was wearing when he killed the teenager on Nov. 14, 1965.
Over the past several months, the USMS Cold Case Unit has worked with the Mansfield Police Department and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office in an attempt to extract DNA from the clothing worn by Eubanks on the night of the murder, according to Pete Elliott, U.S. Marshal in the Northern District of Ohio.
“Through meticulous work by the Medical Examiner’s Office under the direction of Dr. Nasir Butt, Eubanks’ DNA was able to be extracted and has been entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS),” Elliott said.
He said CODIS is a computer software program that operates local, state and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence and missing persons.
“We will not rest until this case is closed,” Elliott said. “This new evidence is directly due to the perseverance of our two Cold Case Investigators who are continuously looking for new routes to pursue, and to the diligence of Dr. Nasir Butt and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s staff who took the time to re-examine old evidence and were able to extract Eubanks’ DNA that we believe will lead to his arrest.”
A murder and then an escape
Deener was walking to the laundromat to help her family with laundry when she was brutally murdered by Eubanks two years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
When Eubanks killed the teen, he was out on bond for an attempted rape which had occurred only three months prior.
On May 25, 1966, Eubanks was found guilty by a jury of murder while perpetrating a rape and two days later was sentenced to death for his crimes.
Six years later, while Eubanks was serving his time at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, his sentence was commuted to life in prison rather than death.
Less than two years after the sentence modification, Eubanks was placed in the Ohio Corrections Medical Center and given the privilege of an honor assignment, which allowed him outside the prison walls.
During that assignment, on Dec. 7, 1973, Eubanks escaped and has not been seen since by authorities.
The search continues 52 years later
Elliott said the Cold Case Unit is again seeking information the public may have about Eubanks.
“Since the case was turned over to the USMS Cold Case Unit for investigation in 2016, the USMS has been diligently working on locating Eubanks, following up on hundreds of leads and conducting dozens of interviews, not only throughout the country, but internationally as well,” Elliott said.
On Dec. 7, 2018, exactly 45 years after his escape, Eubanks was officially listed as a USMS Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitive with a reward available of up to $50,000 for information leading to his location.
In addition to the positive recovery of Eubanks’ DNA, the USMS recently worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on an updated age progression photo of Eubanks.
An age progression photo was previously completed in August 2019. During the past several months, the USMS Cold Case Unit has worked alongside NCMEC on updating these pictures to show what Eubanks may look like now at age 81.
The last known sighting of Eubanks was in southern California in the 1970s. He was using the alias of “Victor Young” and was known to be in the area of Gardena, South Central, Long Beach and North Hollywood.
Authorities also believe Eubanks worked as a janitor at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Calif., in the late 80s or early 90s.
Anyone with information concerning a wanted fugitive can contact the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4-WANTED (1-866-492-6833). Web tips can also be submitted.
Reward money is available, and tipsters may remain anonymous.
