Cutting-edge DNA technology and a public genealogy database helped lead police to an Oregon suspect in the 1994 rape and murder of a young Vancouver mother, leading to an arrest in a nearly 25-year-old cold case.

Police arrested Richard E. Knapp, 57, of Fairview on Sunday during a routine traffic stop near his home. He is a suspect in the murder of Audrey Frasier in July of 1994. Knapp was lodged in the Multnomah County Jail and was extradited to Clark County on Tuesday. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

On July 17, 1994, police responded to apartments in the 8000 block of East Fourth Plain Boulevard in Vancouver after a caller reported being concerned about a neighbor’s welfare. Police found Frasier, then 26, strangled to death in bed. She had a son who was 5 at the time.

Richard Eugene Knapp, arrested in 2019, for 1994 Vancouver murder of Audrey Hoellein

Knapp had been convicted in 1986 of sexual assault in Clark County, and also strangled the victim in that case, according to the affidavit. He complied with an order to provide a biological sample, but the sample was never uploaded to any database and, according to the affidavit, was destroyed in 2000.

Vancouver Police Assistant Chief Mike Lester said the department relied heavily on new technology in DNA collection and genetic analysis to connect Knapp with the case.

Detective Dustin Goudschaal said the department had collected DNA evidence at the time of the murder, but was not able to solve the case. He said at the time, they talked to several people of interest, but exhausted all leads. He said they revisited the case several times in the past 25 years, and tested several people, but found negative results.

Goudschaal said the department contacted a company called Parabon NanoLabs, which does a DNA “Snapshot” analysis. That process includes creating genealogy profiles of people using DNA testing and traditional genealogical methods. People can submit their own DNA in order to create a genealogy profile and find out more about their own family history. The lab submitted a genetic data profile using the DNA from the crime scene into a public genealogy database. They were able to find other people who shared significant amounts of DNA with the unknown person. They narrowed down the list using several other factors, such as age, location, ancestry and trait predictions. From there, Vancouver Police pursued some leads, and identified Knapp as a suspect.

After following Knapp for several months, in February they collected DNA from a cigarette butt he had dropped, and tested it. The DNA matched that of the person at the scene. According to police, Knapp and Frazier did not appear to know each other.

In a news conference Tuesday, Vancouver Police Detective Neil Martin said Knapp may face other charges, but they would not be releasing them yet.

Goudschaal said he called Frasier’s brother and father in South Dakota to tell them they were going to make an arrest, and he delivered the news to her son in person.

“It was emotional,” he said of the conversation with Frasier’s father. “He thought he would go to his grave without any resolution of what happened to his daughter.”

The Hoellein family released a statement with the city of Vancouver, saying the crime not only took away a sister from her two brothers, but left a mother and father without a daughter, and a young child without a mother.

“As this case is starting to unfold after almost 25 years, the wound is being re-opened, and our family is experiencing the pain all over again,” the statement said. “But thanks to detectives Dustin Goudschaal and Neil Martin, our family may finally have the opportunity to find closure to our biggest unknown.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR