Posted: 10/29/2010 02:21:15 PM PDT
Updated: 10/29/2010 03:07:48 PM PDT
FAIRFIELD, Calif.—A Fairfield man who authorities long considered to be a person of interest in his girlfriend's disappearance 14 years ago has been arrested and charged with murder, authorities said Friday.
Lonnie James Kerley reported Danna Lori Dever missing in August 1996, almost a month after farmworkers found a woman's body in a shallow ditch. The body was so badly decomposed that it remained unidentified until 11 years later when detectives matched Dever's fingerprints to those of the dead woman's body.
A forensic anthropologist who examined Dever's body found signs that she had suffered a deadly beating, Solano County Sheriff's Lt. Gary Faulkner said.
He said investigators exhausted their leads until last month when investigators from the District Attorney's office learned new information that led them to arrest Kerley at his home Thursday.
Deputy District Attorney Krishna Abrams declined to disclose the information, saying she didn't want to compromise the case.
Kerley, who was being held without bail, made his first court appearance Friday where a judge set his arraignment for Nov. 4.
His attorney Denis Honeychurch declined to comment.
Dever's stepmother told The Vacaville Reporter she learned about Kerley's arrest Thursday when police left a message on her answering machine.
"I just feel like it's been a long time coming," Susan Dever said.
She said she and her husband, who passed away last August,
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had long suspected Kerly had something to do with Danna Lori Dever's disappearance because he kept her in a controlled environment.
"We kept telling (investigators) 'No, she wouldn't have been able to just walk out.' It wouldn't have happened," Dever told the newspaper
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