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Forensics Cracks Cold Case Murders — And Suspect Slipped Through Net Once Before
S: Peter Zito and Donny Bartron were killed in 1974 and a man is at last in police custody.
A man has been arrested for a double homicide he committed in Oregon nearly 50 years ago and already evaded justice for.
Steven Paul Criss, now 65, is charged with shooting Peter Zito, 18, and his 16-year-old friend Don Bartron in 1974, but managed to walk free due to an error that came up during the early days of forensic testing.
Now, though, he has been indicted for murder and looks set to finally receive the punishment he should have had almost half a century ago.
Cold-blooded murders
Peter and Don were students at Aloha High School in Beaverton, Oregon and were both car-mad. Don worked part-time at a local restaurant, but they would get together regularly to tinker with vehicles and work on projects outside school hours.
On October 3rd 1974, they were in the parking lot of the recreational centre working on a 1956 Oldsmobile, with Don under the hood and Peter sitting in the driver’s seat.
As they concentrated on fixing the engine, someone drove up beside them and shot them both multiple…
