Phony Chewing Gum Survey Helps Solve 1976 Murder


It took more than three decades and a phony chewing gum survey for police to arrest Gary Sanford Raub.

According to ABC, Raub was arrested on Monday morning and charged with the 1976 murder of Blanche Kimball.

Police searched for Kimball’s killer for years, but eventually the trail went cold, that is, until a phony chewing gum survey helped detectives match Raub’s DNA to the murder scene.

According to Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland, detectives began to suspect Raub after the State Police Crime Lab was able to do some DNA work on evidence at the decade’s old crime scene.

McCausland said:

“It was last summer that we got some very concrete DNA work on some of the evidence that was seized and made a comparison that brought us to this point … It was DNA that cracked this.”

Police tracked the man to Seattle where they learned about his lengthy criminal past and the fact that he once lived at Kimball’s home. The detectives were close to breaking the 1976 cold case, but they needed some recent DNA to confirm their suspicions.

And what better way to get a recent DNA sample than with a phony chewing gum survey?

McCausland said:

“I don’t know the exact details, but we obviously needed some up-to-date DNA from him and some bubble gum was the key to getting that.”

According to Fox News, this is the oldest cold case to ever be cracked in Maine. Raub is now facing murder charges and could spend the rest of his life in prison.

McCausland said:

“Even though all of her relatives are gone–her house has even been torn down–we continued to work on her behalf and obviously are pleased it’s arrived to this point … This is the oldest cold case cracked in Maine, so there’s great satisfaction here.”

So what’s the moral of the story? Don’t ever, under any circumstances, trust a piece of gum.

Also, don’t murder people.

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