Over 3 Decades After 11-Year-Old Girl's Murder, Suspect Finally Arrested
In Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story “Minority Report,” he imagines a future where psychic monitors prevent all crime by foreseeing it before it happens. The story shows more than a few downsides of such a fictional arrangement.
But in days where we read about horrific crimes each and every day in the paper, erasing them before they appear has its appeal. Of course, we don’t have such magical powers, and police have instead resorted to patience, perseverance and the wonders of DNA testing.
That’s how Connecticut police tracked down an alleged offender who reportedly murdered a girl in 1986. According to People, Kathleen Flynn was only 11 years old when she disappeared.
She was last seen alive on September 23, 1986. She had decided to walk home from her middle school through a wooded area.
Kathleen had traveled the path on her own numerous times, so it didn’t raise any alarms. But when she failed to return home, a search ensued.
Authorities eventually found her about 150 feet from said path. She’d been bound about her wrists, raped and strangled, and her body had been piled with leaves and a rock to conceal her location.
The Washington Post reported that suspicion soon centered on a young man named Marc Karun. For one thing, he lived close to Kathleen’s school.
When interviewed by police, he also admitted that he had visited it in the days prior to her murder. He said that he went there to meet with several librarians — but none of them could remember him.
Authorities had also arrested him eight months prior on sexual assault and kidnapping charges, although they largely fell apart in court. Eventually, the trail went cold.
“The kids in school were all terrified, as was everyone in the neighborhood. We were all on high alert,” said Enes Drake, a substitute teacher, according to the Connecticut Post.
“The guy was never caught, so we were always looking over their shoulders.” However, he may have been caught now.
On June 12, police arrested Karun on suspicion of Kathleen’s murder. “Several of [Karun’s] cases exhibit a similar geographical profile, modus operandi and rituals to the Kathleen Flynn homicide in some form,” Lt. Art Weisgerber wrote.
Additionally, police cited DNA recovered from the crime scene as part of the reason for his arrest. According to the Bangor Daily News, people who knew Karun weren’t surprised.
“He made all of us uncomfortable,” said Catherine Fisher, the registrar of Stetson, Maine, where Karun lived. “He would come in, and it’s almost like he looks right through you.”
The legal process has a ways to go before anyone can definitely state Karun’s role in the murder. Still, police hope the arrest provides some small measure of comfort to Katherine’s loved ones.
“Our hearts go out to the Flynn family,” Chief of the Norwalk Police Department Thomas Kulhawik said. “We are extremely happy we are able to bring some sense of closure to them.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
