Man charged in 1992 stabbing of St. Paul woman whose body was found near St. Paul Cathedral – Grand Forks Herald

A police officer was flagged down, and he came upon the body near a retaining wall by the east entrance to the old Selby Avenue streetcar tunnel. She was naked except for a black T-shirt. A stream of blood ran from her head.

An autopsy later revealed she was stabbed 11 times in her neck, chest, back and arms, with six of the wounds concentrated on her neck, one of which severed her carotid artery. There also were bruises and cuts on the body and face.

Using fingerprints, investigators learned her name, Annette Gail Seymour, and that the 39-year-old lived in a nearby apartment on Dayton Avenue.

Authorities say her husband, James Fletcher, had a combative, estranged relationship with Seymour and argued with her hours before her body was found on July 14, 1992. Fletcher was brought in for questioning but released.

Eventually the case went cold.

About a year ago Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Andrew Johnson had wrapped up his work charging Michael Anthony Withers with the long-unresolved murder of Lillian Kuller, an elderly woman strangled inside her St. Paul home in 1987.

Johnson and his colleague, Rick Dusterhoft, developed a knack for finding paths forward for long-dormant cases.

So Johnson picked up the file on Seymours death.

He said it didnt take long to realize there was the makings of a solid case against John Robert Capers, including DNA evidence from tests the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ran in 2009 from Seymours shirt.

The DNA matched Capers, now 65, and equally important, excluded Seymours husband, Johnson said. Fletcher died in 2008.

Capers was interviewed about the findings in 2011, and denied knowing Seymour or having any involvement in her death, but his word cant refute DNA evidence, Johnson said.

With that in mind, he and police reached out to old witnesses to corroborate their findings.

Johnsons office charged Capers this week with one count of second-degree murder in Seymours death. Police took him into custody Wednesday morning, Dec. 11.

It came down to, with the people who were still alive, can we make the case, Johnson said. And we believe we can.

Johnson called Seymours family to tell them his office was finally charging someone in her death.

They were very pleased, he said.

Capers was known to the Ramsey County Attorneys Office. The St. Paul man was charged in 1987 with two home invasions, one of which involved the rape of a stranger, Johnson said.

Capers wound up reaching a deal with prosecutors after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his case. His contact with law enforcement after that was for minor crimes: misdemeanor level domestic assault, lying to police, theft.

But one was a conviction on a drug charge that mandated his DNA be entered into the offender database, Johnson said.

Thats how investigators linked him to the DNA sample taken from Seymours shirt when they reexamined evidence in the case in 2009, Johnson added, noting that none of the evidence tested contained Fletchers DNA.

Thats when his office and police started looking for witnesses who might still be alive who could help them build their case, Johnson said.

At the time Seymours husband told police he had been at her apartment the night she died and the two had argued. He said she followed him out of the apartment not far from where her body was found.

The argument continued, but Fletcher said he eventually told Seymour, who he said was drunk at the time, to go home. He said he watched her walk back toward the Cathedral and out of sight.

A couple who were friends of Fletchers confirmed to police at the time that hed been in and out of their home that evening, with the woman saying Fletcher returned for the last time around 2 a.m.

She told police Fletcher didnt appear nervous and described the clothes he was wearing at the time, noting that she didnt notice any blood on him or see him carrying anything suspicious. The woman reiterated her story to investigators when she was contacted again recently, Johnson said.

Capers lived at 940 Marshall Avenue, which is less than 2 miles from where Seymour was found.

This is the third cold case Ramsey County has charged in recent years.

Withers pleaded guilty in Kullers death in 2018.

And, the office secured a conviction against Norman Bachman in 2015 for murdering and dismembering his wife, Toni Bachman, in 1997.

Johnson and Dusterhoft often try to chip away at the stack of unsolved homicide cases in the evening or on weekends.

They are interested in solvable, cases, they said, adding that some even when police and prosecutors think they know the perpetrator cant be proven for various reasons. Johnson estimated the cases that fit the bill number in the teens.

I mean cold cases are cold for a reason, Dusterhoft said. Some of them, absent someone coming forward with a story, and a good story, you are just never going to figure it out. Theres just too many suspects.

Both men said they are drawn to the work, describing cold cases as puzzles that can come with an unusual reward when solved.

Ive now had three cases where I have been able to tell somebody that I know who killed their loved one and they didnt think theyd ever know or they didnt think that person would ever be brought to justice, Johnson said.

In Seymours case, her family thought it was likely her estranged husband killed her until the DNA evidence indicated otherwise, Johnson said.

I got a thank you card from her daughter and it was pretty effusively thanking me. I have never gotten anything like that before, Johnson said.

For Dusterhoft, reading through old police files and piecing together which ones still have witnesses alive today is fascinating.

He and Johnson say they have learned that there are several elements to cracking cold cases.

Relationships change over time. Reasons why people didnt talk or did talk can change over time, and new technology. Thats how you solve these things, he said.

Capers is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday morning.

The St. Paul Police Department is planning to dedicate a homicide investigator to work on cold cases when the current caseload allows us to do so, said Steve Linders, a department spokesman. The city has seen the most homicides this year in more than two decades.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.

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Man charged in 1992 stabbing of St. Paul woman whose body was found near St. Paul Cathedral - Grand Forks Herald