Authorities: Pair of socks help solve 1991 cold case murder in Philadelphia
Theodore Dill Donahue, 52, has been charged in the death of 27-year-old Denise Sharon Kulb following a reexamination of the case’s nearly 30-year-old evidence.
PHILADELPHIA - A man has been arrested in connection with a 1991 cold case homicide investigation, authorities announced Tuesday.
Theodore Dill Donahue, 52, has been charged in the death of 27-year-old Denise Sharon Kulb following an extensive joint reexamination of the case’s nearly 30-year-old evidence.
Donahue was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with murder, abuse of corpse, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and false reports to police.
“Twenty-eight years ago, Denise Sharon Kulb was found dead in a remote area in the suburbs, abandoned and discarded,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner. “She deserved far better than to be killed and left in a location unknown to those who mourned her.”
Kulb would have been 55 years old Tuesday.
State and local authorities said they have been in contact with Kulb’s family, which expressed gratitude for a resolution of the case.
The cold case was reopened by Pennsylvania State Police in 2015. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office joined the investigation in 2018.
In the absence of DNA or physical evidence, authorities used new investigative tools to rebuild the case, such as photo-enhancing technology to connect a pair of separated socks that proved to be a key piece of evidence.
Investigators said Kulb, described as Donahue’s girlfriend, moved into his apartment on the 200 block of Salaignac Street in Wissahickon on Oct. 1, 1991. Two weeks later, she moved out.
Denise Sharon Kulb would have been 55 years old on Tuesday. She was murdered by 52-year-old Theodore Dill Donahue in 1991, according to police.
According to Donahue’s original statement to police, he last saw Kulb on Oct. 18, 1991, when they bought and used crack, were robbed at knifepoint and she ran to get help. Donahue said Kulb fled and he never saw her again. When Donahue was re-interviewed in 2015, he reportedly gave a different account, stating that the last time he saw Kulb was outside a bar.
Kulb was seen alive by family members at a funeral on Oct. 19, 1991. When her sister was later interviewed about the events of that day, she said Denise got in a fight with Donahue outside of the bar where the sister was employed. Phone records show that Donahue and Kulb talked before they met on Oct. 19. This was the last day Kulb was seen alive.
On Nov. 12, 1991, Kulb’s body was found badly decomposed in a wooded, undeveloped cul-de-sac off of Harvey Road in Birmingham Township, Delaware County. Troopers found her wearing only a sweater underneath two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, jacket and a pale yellow sock. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Three days later, troopers searched Donahue’s apartment and found a pale yellow sock that matched the one found at the crime scene. Photos of the socks were later enhanced to make the connection between the apartment and the crime scene.
Further investigation recreated Donahue’s retelling of how his old girlfriend was found face-down in the woods strangled to death, revealing details that no one but an eyewitness to the crime scene or the perpetrator should have known, according to authorities.
"Sometimes cases get better with time, just like wine does," said Anthony Voci, supervisor of the district attorney's homicide unit. "For instance, in 1991 we didn't have multiple versions of his last interactions with the victim. Now we do. So that's one example of how cases can get better."
Donahue, who prosecutors said has been working as a pizza deliveryman for nearly 30 years in Germantown, is currently being held without bail.