'We Have a Sense of Why He Did It': Arrest in 1992 Murder

Police say they obtained written confession from alleged murderer
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 18, 2017 5:32 PM CDT
25 Years Later, an Arrest in Murder of Teacher's Aide
This booking photo released Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, by the Hamden District Attorney shows Gary Schara, of West Springfield, Mass., who was arrested at a medical facility in Connecticut on Saturday, and has been charged with the April 1992 death of Lisa Ziegert.   (Hamden District Attorney via AP)

Authorities say a man has been charged with killing a Massachusetts middle school teacher's aide 25 years ago, the AP reports. Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said Monday that Gary Schara, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was arrested in Connecticut and charged with the April 1992 death of Lisa Ziegert. Gulluni says a person close to Schara recently provided police with handwritten documents in which the man admitted raping and killing Ziegert. The district attorney says authorities later obtained a DNA sample that matched evidence found on her body.

Ziegert was working her night job at a gift shop when she disappeared. Her body was found four days later in a wooded area nearby; she had been raped and stabbed, CBS News reports. She had told her sister and others she felt she was being watched in the days leading up to her disappearance. Authorities say Schara first popped up on their radar in 1993 in relation to the case, though they wouldn't say why. "We have a sense of why he did it, yes," Gulluni told reporters. Ziegert's mother says her family is grateful to finally obtain justice. (More cold cases stories.)

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