One of essentially the most high-profile cold cases in Quebec history was solved Tuesday when Canadian authorities identified a West Virginia man they are saying raped and killed a 16-year-old girl nearly 50 years ago.
With the assistance of DNA evidence, police in Longueuil, Quebec, identified Franklin Maywood Romine because the murderer of teenager Sharron Prior in 1975 on the outskirts of Montreal.
Prior was killed after going to fulfill friends for pizza near her home, and her body was found three days later in a wooded area.
Romine’s body, who was 36 when he died mysteriously in 1982, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery in early May for DNA testing.
Longueuil authorities said Romine’s DNA matched a sample found on the crime scene, confirming his connection to the crime.
It also matched the witness’s description of the suspect.
West Virginia local attorney Mark Sorsaia said WCHS earlier this month, the rape and murder of a teenage girl is “essentially the most evil element of the human race.”
![Longueuil police said Franklin Maywood Romine's DNA matched a sample found at the crime scene.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/fdvdcf.png?w=1024)
“It’s a mix of essentially the most evil element of the human race, contacting essentially the most innocent element of the human race – the kid,” he said. “There are things worse than death – such a loss of a baby for the family, for the mother. To know that your child died this manner.
Over the past 50 years, the police have searched over 100 suspects.
The victim’s mother, Yvonne Prior, who’s 80, still lives in Canada.
![Teen Sharron Prior was murdered in 1975 after going to meet friends for pizza near her home in Longueuil, Quebec.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/vfdvd-2.png?w=1024)
She spent her life looking for the killer of her dead daughter.
Romine got here on the Longueuil police radar last yr when investigators scoured criminal records and discovered he had a wealthy history of violence, WCHS reports.
He tried to evade law enforcement by moving between Canada and West Virginia.
![Franklin Maywood Romine came on the Longueuil police radar last year when investigators discovered he had a rich history of violence, WCHS reports.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/cdcs.png?w=682)
He was arrested in the US in 1974 for breaking right into a house in Parkersburg, West Virginia and raping a girl.
He was released on $2,500 bail two months later and fled to Canada, in accordance with an earlier Associated Press report.
Just months after Prior’s murder, Canadian border officials arrested Romine and sent him to West Virginia, where he served five to 10 years for the 1974 Parkersburg rape.
He died in Canada shortly after being released from prison, though it is just not clear how.
With postal wires