DNA Linked Suspect to Decades-Old Crimes
A suspect has been named in two unsolved Brockton cases, a 1991 murder and a 1993 rape.
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz on Thursday said that the late Robert Carey has been identified as the suspect in both cases.
Since the 1990s, state and Brockton police have been investigating the murder of 28-year-old Cherie Bishop and the sexual assault of Donna Bell.
Cruz said that DNA samples from both crime scenes were uploaded to the FBI’s CODIS program in 2016.
In March 2023, the district attorney’s office enlisted the assistance of Texas-based Othram Research that assists local, state, and federal law enforcement to break through forensic DNA barriers and close previously unsolvable cases.
Cruz said that Othram genealogists identified the DNA sample to a certain profile.
In 2025, additional testing was done on certain items by the state police crime lab.
A match was found from Carey’s DNA sample to sexual assault kits of both Bishop and Bell.
Cruz said that in recent years Carey had been residing at the Brockton Veterans Medical Center. He died last June of natural causes at the age of 64.
Authorities say that Bishop was found strangled to death and sexually assaulted in Mulberry Park in Brockton on June 25, 1991.
Bell was walking on Annis Avenue in Brockton on April 4, 1993 when a white male driving a van grabbed her. The unknown man held an electric wire to her neck and threatened her to cooperate.
After sexually assaulting her, he grabbed a sharp object. Fearing she was going to be stabbed, Bell jumped out of the passenger side and screamed for help.
Brockton police found her standing in distress at the intersection of Ames and Interval streets in distress.
Bell passed away in 2021.
Cruz said that the Bishop and Bell families have been deprived of the full story of what happened to their loved ones. He voiced hope that by identifying Carey as the suspect would help bring some peace and closure to both families.