EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. — After 44 years, investigators say they have now arrested the person who they believe killed Patricia Carnahan at a South Lake Tahoe campground.
According to the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office, the body of Patricia Carnahan was found beaten and strangled to death at a South Lake Tahoe campground in Sept. of 1979.
Along with Carnahan's body, detectives also recovered a sexual assault kit at the scene.
Carnahan remained unidentified for years until the El Dorado County Cold Case Homicide Unit reviewed the case in 2015 and published photos of her jewelry in a local newspaper.
Family members identified the jewelry and provided DNA samples that helped identify Carnahan's body. The body was released to the family for a proper burial.
As part of a 2023 initiative to clear a backlog of unexamined sexual assault test kits, the Washington Attorney General tested a kit from a rape case in 1994 that was previously deemed unprovable.
After testing the kit, the data was sent to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System which matched with the DNA evidence collected from Patricia Carnahan, prosecutors said.
The suspect in both cases was identified as 63-year-old Harold Carpenter. El Dorado County law enforcement developed probable cause to arrest Carpenter on suspicion of murder, then traveled to Spokane, Washington to arrest him.
“This is the 13th case solved after the creation of the cold case task force,” El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said in a statement. “Sadly, Ms. Carnahan was buried in a potter’s field under a headstone of an ‘unidentified female.’ Because of the tireless dedication of our investigators, she was identified and returned to her family. Now due to multi-state collaboration by numerous agencies her killer will finally be held accountable.”
Carpenter was booked into the Spokane County Jail pending extradition to California on a murder warrant.
According to the El Dorado County District Attorney, the case is one of the oldest cold case murders in the country to be solved through a sexual assault DNA review run through the FBI's system.
Prosecutors ask those with information on the case to contact the El Dorado Cold Case Task Force at 530-621-4590 or at coldcasetaskforce@edcda.us.
Watch More from ABC10: UNSOLVED CALIFORNIA: Wife of murdered deputy awaits justice, shares how she keeps his legacy alive