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Palm print ties man to Cobb County woman's cold case murder after 28 years

In 1991, Cathy Glass was found dead in a pool of her own blood. Nearly three decades later, police believe they've found her killer.

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A lot has changed in Cobb County since Cathy Glass, a woman who was in her 30s at the time, was found dead in an apartment just outside of Marietta.

One thing that hadn't changed in the 28 years since then has been the status of her case in the annals of police records - until now. 

A joint investigation by the Cobb County District Attorney's Office and Cobb Police may have finally cracked the case.

In 1991, officers arrived at 15 Booth Road to find Glass's body lying in a hallway in a pool of blood. Police said her apartment had been ransacked. Included among the evidence collected at the scene was a palm print - but that promising clue wouldn't bear any fruit for a long time.

The day finally came in October of 2019 when the palm print without a match suddenly gained one. In recent weeks, the print was tested once again by Cobb Police and was now associated with a name in a national database.

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On Monday, 55-year-old Trent Allen Brown was arrested in Indiana on charges of malice murder, aggravated assault and burglary in direct connection to Glass's death. 

“Though a long time coming, we are thankful evidence collected early in this case has helped justice continue to move forward," Police Chief Cox said. "We are proud of the continued effort of our detectives along with investigators in the District Attorney’s Office.”

Officials said he was already incarcerated in Plainfield Correctional Facility in Indiana on charges related to burglary - the latest of multiple arrests and convictions in Indiana stretching back to 2007. His latest conviction and sentencing happened in 2018 with a release date of Sept. 1, 2021.

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If convicted in the death of Glass, however, he could find himself back behind bars for much longer.

“Twenty-eight years is a long time for a family to wait to find out what happened to their loved one, but there is no statute of limitations on murder,” District Attorney Joyette Holmes said. “My office will move expeditiously to bring Mr. Brown to justice.”

Cobb County authorities are seeking Brown's extradition back to Georgia to face the new charges against him.

His arrest is the 10th such case cleared by arrest after review by the county's Cold Case Unit. The unit was established by the district attorney's office in 2013 and works alongside the police to help solve similar cases that have languished without answers - sometimes, as in this case, for decades.

Editor's note: The above story is from 11Alive's Gone Cold series.

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