Police: DNA Links Man To Indy Teen's 1989 Death

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man who claimed to have found the body of an 18-year-old Indianapolis woman 17 years ago has been linked by DNA evidence to her killing, authorities said.

David Ashworth, 46, was arrested Monday in Lakeland, Fla., in connection with the 1989 strangling and rape of Lisa Joan Summers. Ashworth has been charged with murder and is awaiting extradition to Indiana.

Police said Summers disappeared in June 1989 after finishing her shift at a Wendy's restaurant at 38th Street and Lafayette Road on Indianapolis' west side. Four days later, Ashworth and another man told authorities he had found her body near 38th Street and Interstate 465, police said.

Authorities said someone had dragged Summers into a field and then raped and strangled her.

DNA found on Summers' clothing and saliva on a cigarette butt found near her body had been saved and was tested this year, along with a DNA sample taken from Ashworth in 1992. Investigators said that test linked Ashworth to the crime.

Ashworth's wife told police that he was home at the time of the killing, but she later recanted.