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Police say 1971 rape and killing solved

CLEARWATER, Fla., June 15 (UPI) -- Florida police detectives say advances in DNA technology helped them solve the rape and killing of a 14-year-old girl 40 years ago.

The suspect, now 69, an industrial painter who lived near Gina Justi and her family in the Tampa area in 1971, is already serving two life sentences in Illinois for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Jerry Fletcher's DNA in the Combined Offender DNA Index System matched the profile the Pinellas County crime lab had obtained, detectives said Tuesday.

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County Detective Mike Bailey said he is working with the county prosecutors to charge Fletcher in Gina's death.

Her body was discovered in a Palm Harbor orange grove on Aug. 7, 1971, a day after she disappeared. She had been raped, beaten, stabbed and strangled.

Tony Justi, Gina's older brother, said he is sorry their mother, Virginia, who died in 2008, did not learn her daughter's killing had been solved.

"But Gina's aunts were just overjoyed to hear it," he said. "My godmother started crying when she heard."

Justi, now living near Savannah, Ga., said it is a relief to know Fletcher will spend the rest of his life behind bars even if he is never tried for Gina's killing.

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