Tina McMenamin, an 18-year-old UNL freshman, was stabbed and sexually assaulted in her house on July 25, 1995. 

Gregory Gabel, a mentally sick Lincoln man, was arrested within the murder and has all the time been the prime suspect, an investigator mentioned, even after pivotal DNA proof did not hyperlink him to the crime scene. Gabel has a computerlike reminiscence for numbers and details and a historical past of following ladies at companies and public occasions, retired investigator Rich Doetker mentioned in 2005.

McMenamin was killed within the minutes earlier than she was due at work at Godfather’s Pizza at 5:30 p.m. that night time in 1995. Roommate Sarah Bognich discovered her pal in a pool of blood that night time. 

“The apartment was ransacked. I walked past the bedroom a couple of times before noticing her on the floor. My life changed after that. I tried to go back (to college), and I couldn’t ever finish.”

A single hair clutched in McMenamin’s hand led police to Gabel. It matched his DNA, a one-in-1,049 probability. Circumstantial proof additionally linked Gabel to the house constructing. And a person matching Gabel’s description was seen fleeing the crime scene, Amberwood Apartments, 4600 Briarpark Drive.

That night time, Gabel was a block away at a Sonic Drive-In. He was there each Tuesday night time, cleansing up in trade for meals. And Gabel had earlier convictions for third-degree sexual assault and public indecency. Police arrested him a 12 months after the crime.

But two years later, when a unique DNA take a look at proved the hair was not Gabel’s, he was launched. That hair, nevertheless, did not essentially belong to the killer, Doetker mentioned. The investigator additionally has suspicions in regards to the validity of the second DNA take a look at, carried out in a Pennsylvania lab.

“There were questions that came up: Was it the right hair? The same hair?” he mentioned.

Murder costs have been dropped in opposition to Gabel with the hope that extra proof could be discovered to re-arrest him, Doetker mentioned. If the case went to trial and Gabel was discovered harmless, Doetker added, he couldn’t be retried if new proof got here to gentle.

Mary Hepburn-O’Shea, who has labored within the psychological well being subject in Lincoln for many years and has identified Gabel for a lot of of these years, mentioned in 2005 that the person misplaced two years in jail for one thing he did not do.

Hepburn-O’Shea runs downtown O.U.R. Homes, the town’s largest supplier for developmentally disabled those that additionally homes individuals with psychological sicknesses. Gabel lives and works there. “He’s a weird kid,” she mentioned. “He’s not ever a violent kid.”

Then-Assistant Police Chief Jim Peschong, talking in 2005, added which you can’t strive a case on private beliefs and supposition. Peschong mentioned he personally believes there’s a suspect within the crime, however he declined naming anybody.