LAUREL, Md. — Howard County police have made an arrest in connection to the 1982 rape and murder of a 28-year-old mother of four.
Police say Laney McGadney was abducted March 29, 1982 while walking to a grocery store on Oakland Mills Road in Columbia.
Her body was discovered the same day in a vacant lot, now known as Water Lily Way. She'd been stabbed to death.
Recent DNA test results on items discarded at the crime scene linked 62-year-old Howard Jackson Bradberry, Jr. to the murder.
Bradberry was taken into custody at his home on May 25 on murder, rape, and kidnapping charges.
“We hope that after nearly 40 years, Laney McGadney’s family can have some kind of peace with this arrest,” said Police Chief Lisa Myers. “Nothing will ever erase the pain of losing a loved one in such a violent and tragic way. Our cold case investigators are committed to bringing justice for victims and families, no matter how much time has passed.”
Bradberry is being held at the Howard County Detention Center on $25,000 bail.
Watch the cold case video here.
