Grandson Arrested In Connection To 1988 Cold Case Murder Of Grandmother Found Stabbed 51 Times

Authorities announced they have arrested a Texas man suspected of the cold case killing of his grandmother almost 35 years ago in Pennsylvania.

On July 25, police in Austin took Jeremy Clarke Brock, 55, into custody at his workplace on charges of homicide, robbery, burglary, theft and tampering, Erie News Now reported.

Brock was 21 when his grandmother, Helen Vogt, 76, was found dead on July 23, 1988, in her townhome after a neighbor called 911 around 7:15 a.m. The neighbor reported witnessing a person wearing a towel wrapped around their head quickly back Vogt's Buick LeSabre out of the victim’s garage and speed away.

Police found Vogt’s body in the bedroom of her blood-spattered, ransacked residence, and an autopsy determined she had been beaten and stabbed 51 times.

Two kitchen knives and a two-pronged fork covered in blood were recovered from the crime scene, and investigators learned multiple items, including a diamond ring, watch and other valuables, were missing from the residence, a probable cause affidavit states.

The elderly victim's stolen vehicle was discovered the next month in Dayton, Ohio.

Though Brock was identified as a suspect and Erie police obtained a search warrant to take samples of his blood, saliva, hair and complete handprints in 1990, detectives were unable to make any arrests for Vogt’s murder, and the case went cold.

“With the advancement of forensic technology, the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was able to re-analyze the previously submitted evidence,” Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said at a July 26 news conference.

According to authorities, DNA recovered from a washcloth in the victim’s shower was recently connected to her grandson.

Brock is expected to be extradited to Pennsylvania from Travis County, Texas.