GREENVILLE, SC (WSPA) – Greenville Police Department officials announced Monday during a news conference that they have identified and arrested a suspect in a 30-year-old cold case.
According to Chief Ken Miller, Brian Keith Munns, 51, has been charged in the death of Alice Haynesworth Ryan.
Ryan, 80, was stabbed to death in her Cleveland Park Home in October 1988.
Miller said Munns was charged with murder, burglary, armed robbery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
He was booked into the Greenville County Detention Center, where he is being held without bond.
According to Miller, in April 2017 the newly formed Cold Case Unit at the police department began an extensive review of the Ryan murder case file.
“I was working that day and we got the call to the Ryan home,” recalled retired Captain Don Belue. “We found that Miss Ryan had been stabbed and was laying on the kitchen floor.”
Belue said Monday that Ryan’s old age only added to the tragedy.
“It was one of those things that you just don’t like to see. We were really intent on trying to find the perpetrator of the crime right away.”
In August 2017, cold case detectives began reviewing case evidence in conjunction with South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents, including physical evidence from inside the house and evidence collected from Ryan’s car.
Miller said Ryan’s car — a 1967 Ford Galaxy — was recovered a short time later a short distance from her home.
“The collection of evidence was critical back then and it’s very critical that the DNA doesn’t deteoriorate over time,” Lieutenant Tim Conroy, another member of the Cold Case Unit, told 7 News when asked about the importance of preserving evidence.
According to Miller an acquaintance of Munns gave detectives detailed information that Munns had given about the details of the murder of Ryan, which included his method of entry, injuries inflicted, area of the encounter, location of evidence and the timeline of events.
He added that Munns’ DNA was recovered from inside Ryan’s vehicle.
“Upon re-analyzing an item recovered from the interior of the car, SLED analysts were able to extract a full DNA profile capable of being uploaded to the South Carolina State DNA Database and the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System; more commonly known as ‘CODIS,'” according to the news release. “In November 2017, GPD investigators were notified of a “CODIS Hit” to a matching DNA profile. The DNAprofile belonged to Munns, who was also a registered sex offender. In December 2017, investigators traveled to Georgia to speak with the man believed to be the source of the DNA profile retrieved from crime-scene evidence. For the next several months, the Cold Case teamtirelessly continued their work; conducting interviews, evaluating evidence, and seeking more information about the man identified by DNA. In February 2019, investigators moved forward with criminal charges against Munns.”
Joe Ryan, son of Alice Ryan, attended Monday’s press conference and thanked Greenville Police for their efforts to make an arrest in his mother’s murder.
“They’ve gone all out, and all out, for a long period of time,” he said.
“I knew Joe Ryan and we had kind of become friends over the years,” said Belue. “And I always felt a need to have this case solved. […] “We’re just glad today’s come and it came out this way.”
Lieutenant Conroy told 7 News that investigators do believe they have a motive, but could not specify given the ongoing investigation.
