Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields announced that Moore County sheriff’s investigators assisted the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) in Maryland in the arrest of 82-year-old Rodger Zodas Brown, a resident of the Pinehurst Trace community in Pinehurst. Brown was taken into custody at his home on March 11, following an extensive investigation conducted by PGPD’s Cold Case Unit.
Brown has been charged in connection with the 1979 murder of 31-year-old Kathryn Donohue of Arlington, Virginia, said Fields in a media release. On March 3, 1979, Donohue’s body was discovered in a parking lot in Glenarden, Maryland. Despite an extensive investigation at the time, the case remained unsolved for more than four decades.
In late 2024, PGPD cold case detectives, in collaboration with the FBI Baltimore Field Office, utilized forensic genetic genealogy DNA analysis to identify a relative of the unknown suspect. Further investigation led to Brown’s identification as the suspect. With assistance from the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Charlotte Field Office, authorities arrested Brown at his Pinehurst home last week.
Brown, who lived in Hyattsville, Maryland, at the time of the murder, is facing charges of first-degree murder, rape, and related offenses. He remains in North Carolina pending extradition to Prince George’s County, Maryland.
To watch the Prince George’s County Police Department press conference announcing Brown’s arrest and providing details on the decades-long investigation, please click on link: https://www.facebook.com/PGPD1/videos/666319679307711.
Feature photo: Kathryn Donohue/Photo provided by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office.
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