Authorities: DNA evidence links St. Louis man to 1994 rape, killing

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A St. Louis man already serving time for burglary was charged Wednesday in the 1994 rape and killing of a north St. Louis County woman thanks to a DNA match 12 years later.

Prosecutors said they have matched the DNA of Stanley Johnson, 49, to the scene of the May 5, 1994, killing of Lela Warner. The 68-year old grandmother was found raped and strangled in her bedroom with a vacuum cleaner cord.

The DNA match came from seminal fluids recovered from Warner's body.

Johnson is currently serving 20 years at a Farmington prison for burglary and other convictions in 1997 and 1998.

If convicted in the cold case, Prosecuting Attorney St. Louis County Robert McCulloch said Johnson could face the death penalty.

"What it really points to is these cases are never closed," McCulloch said. "In recent years nothing has come in."

The case was among the first authorities looked at after the St. Louis County Police Department hired a detective last year to reopen old cases that contained DNA evidence.

Johnson was never a suspect in the case until the recent match with a DNA database, McCulloch said. A palm print left at the crime also match Johnson's.

"There were a number of people we looked at over the course of the investigation," McCulloch said. "There was nothing in relation to Stanley Johnson, not until there was a hit. It's an outstanding tool."

Johnson submitted a DNA sample in recent years while serving his sentence, he said.

A parole hearing was scheduled for January, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections. Johnson's convictions in 1997 and 1998 included burglary, tampering, and stealing credit cards.

Warner's family was notified about the match and Johnson said he's happy they have finally been given closure.

Warner's husband, Thomas Warner, found his wife dead in their home and police said they found signs of a struggle.