Suspect in Doisy killing from 1976 is arrested

Suspect in Doisy killing from 1976 is arrested

By Virginia Young
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/30/2009

For 33 years, police in Columbia, Mo., have searched for Rebecca Doisy's killer.

Doisy, a Kirkwood High School graduate, disappeared in Columbia in 1976. The trail of evidence eventually led police to Johnny Wright, who had pestered Doisy at the restaurant where she worked as a waitress.

But by the time Wright was charged with the murder years later, he could not be found. Neither was Doisy's body, despite extraordinary efforts that included exhuming a "Jane Doe" in Jefferson County, consulting a psychic and letting a "cold case" class of forensic science college students investigate the crime.

"There were a lot of dead ends," said Chris Egbert, the Columbia police detective who pursued leads until he retired in 1993.

That all changed Monday, when Columbia police received a call from officers in Lawrenceville, Ga. They had nabbed Wright, 65, after he went to the police department and filled out paperwork for a routine background check needed as part of a job application......

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