2015/04/01

KXLY News March 30, 2015: DNA cracks 30-year-old cold case murder

Police say they've found the killer of a six-year-old California boy, who was murdered in 1981, living in Sandpoint, Idaho.

The last time Jeffrey Vargos's family saw their son alive he was riding his bike in an Anaheim, California neighborhood in July of 1981. The next day his body was found at a construction site more than 20 miles away in Pomona. Vargos had been strangled to death.

The case went cold for over 30 years, until a DNA match finally linked 53-year-old Kenneth Rasmuson of Sandpoint to Vargos's killing.

Rasmuson moved to Sandpoint approximately five years ago and neighbors knew he was a convicted sex offender with a history of violence towards children.

"I kind of freaked out because he moved in right next to a city park. You know, and my wife and us, we got three kids and a bunch of nieces and nephew," said neighbor Chad Tompkins.

They never thought however, that he was a suspected murderer.

"Everybody was scared. Especially with the undercover people in the neighborhood. They were all worried about what was going on," said Tompkins.

After learning the full details of his past, those who lived around him say they're glad he's gone. more