BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A suspected serial killer serving a life sentence in Oregon has been charged in the 1987 murder of a Bellingham woman after investigators used forensic DNA to tie him to the crime scene.
Darren Dee O’Neall, 63, was extradited to Washington state on Wednesday after being charged with second-degree murder for the 1987 homicide of 29-year-old Wendy Aughe. He is being held on $10 million bail.
O’Neall is currently serving a 135-year sentence in Oregon for the 1987 kidnapping and sexual assault of a 14-year-old Portland girl, which followed a 28-year sentence for the 1987 murder of a 21-year-old Pierce County woman, according to The Seattle Times archives. The Associated Press reported O’Neall was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and was apprehended after being found to be incarcerated under a false name in Florida in 1988.
Aughe was reported missing on April 28, 1987, after a woman who was babysitting Aughe’s daughter said she never returned, according to court documents.
The documents said investigators went to Aughe’s home in Bellingham where they found two pools of drying blood at the head of Aughe’s bed, blood splatter and a stain that was later determined to be semen.
Investigators said in the documents that Aughe told classmates on April 24 that she had met a man at a nearby restaurant and that they were going to go on a date that night. According to witness statements, the man went by the name Mike Johnson and had just started working at the restaurant when he met Aughe.
Aughe was reportedly last seen leaving a friend’s house with Johnson at around 1 a.m. Aughe’s body has never been found.
Johnson, who had been staying at a shelter, was seen driving Aughe’s vehicle the next day and was last seen when he walked off the job at the restaurant.
On April 26, Aughe’s vehicle was logged as entering the United States from Canada at the Oroville, WA border crossing. Hours later, the vehicle was found abandoned in Eugene, OR. The documents said authorities lifted a fingerprint off of a Burger King hamburger box that was left in the vehicle.
Authorities used the fingerprint to identify O’Neall as a person of interest. The documents said investigators were also able to use witness statements to match O’Neall with Johnson’s physical appearance and determined O’Neall used Johnson as an alias.
O’Neall was later found guilty of auto theft in 1989 for stealing Aughe’s car.
In 2015, the Bellingham Police Department received a report from the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory on evidence found at Aughe’s home. The lab used DNA from the semen found at the crime scene and entered it into the state and nationwide databases when they were able to match it with O’Neall’s DNA.
O’Neall's arraignment is scheduled for March 10.