Two suspects arrested on murder charges from 1995 cold case

Two suspects were booked into King County Jail in early February on murder charges from a 1995 cold case.

On Nov. 27, 1995, the King County Sheriff's Office responded to a suspicious vehicle call in White Center. Deputies found an African-American man later identified as 26-year-old Kenneth Ruffer shot to death inside the car.

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The investigation looked at multiple people who knew Ruffer and could have been involved. Eventually, officers learned that Ruffer may have been set up for a robbery by a woman who was 25 at the time. The main suspect, a 29-year-old man, was named as an accomplice in the robbery-murder.

The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab conducted analysis on the evidence and obtained a full DNA profile which matched a sample from the male suspect.

Despite DNA evidence allowing officers to identify a suspect in the case, deputies still needed cooperative witnesses.

Detectives spent the last year re-examining the case and contacting witnesses in an attempt to get that level of corroboration.

The now 52-year-old man and the 48-year-old woman were booked into King County Jail on Feb. 13 on murder one charges.

Cox Media Group