An Alabama man is charged in a cold case involving a Georgia woman who was stabbed to death

LAFAYETTE, Ga. (AP) — An Alabama man is in custody for the stabbing death of a woman 24 years ago at her home in Georgia, authorities said Friday.

U.S. Marshals arrested Clerence George, 63, at his Birmingham home at about 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 22. He is being held in the Jefferson County Jail awaiting extradition to Georgia on charges of murder and aggravated assault in the 2000 slaying of Julie Ann McDonald.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said during a news conference Friday that McDonald, a 43-year-old pharmacist, had been stabbed multiple times and likely had been dead for three or four days when her body was found inside her home in LaFayette, Georgia, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.

There were several suspects at the time, he said, including George, an acquaintance of McDonald who was found in possession of her checkbook. However, there was not enough evidence to make any arrests.

The sheriff said authorities are not yet releasing a possible motive in McDonald’s death.

George, who would have been 39 at the time of McDonald’s slaying, has a lengthy arrest record in Alabama, but none for violent crimes that court records show, al.com reported.

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In 2015, investigators reopened the cold case and submitted evidence for testing, but again there was not enough to file charges. The case was reopened in 2023, and again this year, but this time technology helped lead to formal charges.

Investigators said good old-fashioned police work — reinterviewing witnesses and knocking on doors — was crucial to solving the case.

Wilson and officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which jointly worked on the investigation, said they never give up on unsolved cases.

GBI Special Agent In Charge Joe Calhoun thanked those who worked on the McDonald case.

“There was some really good work done here and not all of it was scientific,” he said. “There was some leg work and door-knocking. The GBI never stops working on unsolved cases. There was a tremendous effort by these investigators, who sometimes ran into a brick wall, but they kept going.”

“I think it’s always a drive we have,’’ Wilson added.

Many of the victim’s relatives have since died, but authorities said they notified McDonald’s niece and nephew of George’s arrest.

“The biggest gratification I’ve seen in working these cold cases is giving the family some relief knowing that someone has been found guilty in a court of law by their peers and that someone is held accountable for a death that was totally unnecessary. There’s some sense of relief that the family can put it behind them and go on’’ Wilson said. “Not that it gives them great joy, but it’s the fact that they know a person has been held accountable for that death.”