For nearly four decades, the murder of Rhonda Marie Fisher haunted investigators in Douglas County, Colorado. Fisher, a 30-year-old mother, was found sexually assaulted and strangled along a quiet stretch of highway near Sedalia in April 1987. Leads dried up. Suspects came and went. DNA tests in 2017 turned up nothing. Her case became one more unsolved file collecting dust.

But this year, detectives pulled two overlooked pieces of evidence from storage: a pair of brown paper bags placed over Fisher’s hands at the crime scene. It was standard procedure at the time, meant to preserve anything she may have touched. No one imagined the bags themselves might hold the key to the case. DNA wasn’t yet a tool in 1987. The coroner wasn’t thinking about genetic profiles or trace skin cells. He was simply doing his job.

Yet those bags remained untouched for almost 40 years. That quiet preservation made all the difference.

When forensic scientists tested the inside surfaces, they found a viable DNA profile — a rarity for evidence that old. The profile pointed to one man: Vincent Darrell Groves, a convicted serial killer who died in prison in 1996. Authorities have long suspected Groves in numerous unsolved murders across the Denver metro area. Now, they say, the DNA removes all doubt in Fisher’s case.

Groves is believed to have targeted vulnerable women throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, and officials estimate he may be responsible for more than a dozen killings. He had been considered a possible suspect in Fisher’s murder before, but investigators needed scientific proof before closing the case. The DNA recovered from the paper bags finally delivered it.

Detectives still don’t know how Fisher and Groves came into contact, and there’s no evidence the two knew each other. But the match closes a chapter her family waited decades to understand. Fisher’s parents and brother died before learning the truth, but surviving relatives told investigators they were grateful the case was finally resolved.

“This case is a testament to our commitment to pursue justice for every victim — no matter how much time has passed,” Sheriff Darren Weekly said. He added that advances in DNA technology have transformed cold-case work, making it possible to extract genetic evidence from materials once thought useless. Fisher’s case marks the seventh cold homicide solved by the department in seven years.

Across the country, emerging forensic tools — from genetic genealogy to DNA phenotyping — have revived long-dormant investigations. But Fisher’s case stands out for its simplicity: no new technology, no national database breakthrough, just two paper bags, carefully preserved, waiting for science to catch up.

“As science evolves, so does our ability to uncover the truth,” Weekly said. For Fisher’s family, that truth finally has a name.