COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A man suspected in the 1992 killing of Amy Hooper has been brought back to Ohio to face rape and murder charges.
According to court records, 58-year-old Bruce Daniels was extradited to Columbus on Wednesday, nearly three months after being apprehended in the state of Washington. In 2024, Daniels was named a person of interest in the murder of Hooper, 20, who was found dead on March 9, 1992, in Lincoln Village of Prairie Township, west of Interstate 270.
DNA evidence leads to arrest in 1992 murder of 19-year-old woman
Hooper was found face up and naked on the floor in her Galloway Village apartment on Medfield Way. Police said she was bludgeoned in the head with an object and stabbed multiple times. The killer reportedly used a heart-shaped medallion with the Pan-African flag pained on it to bind her hands.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle in the apartment, leading to the belief that Hooper knew her attacker, though it remains unknown how Hooper and Daniels may have been acquainted.
Daniels, who was living in Tumwater, Washington, was indicted in December on charges of murder and rape and a warrant was issued for his arrest on Dec. 4.
After being named a person of interest, investigators in Washington obtained an “item discarded” by Daniels related to a separate charge, and matched DNA on the object with evidence collected from Hooper’s body.
“DNA is the key piece of this (investigation). Quite frankly it was the missing link all of these years,” Chief Deputy Rick Minerd said during a Thursday press conference. “We had a profile in 1992, but that profile was unidentified. The DNA profile of Bruce Daniels was not in that database, so a match could not be made.”
Minerd said it can take years for DNA links to identify family lineage and that the investigation led authorities to at least three different locations on the west coast. Daniels was also known to live in Columbus, Cincinnati, and in Georgia.
Motive for Hooper’s murder remains unknown and Minerd, nor lead detective Chuck Clark, who was assigned this case 20 years ago, revealed details on the relationship between Daniels and Hooper, or what led to her murder.
Clark, who appeared emotional, expressed his relief that he could finally deliver positive news to Sandy Green, Amy’s sister.
“I had to tell (Sandy) no so many times, it was disheartening,” Clark said. “I finally got to make that call, and it was something.”
Green said she never gave up hope and always believed the case could be solved.
“I just kept telling him, I want you to get the right person,” Green said. “I want it to be the one and done, so I never gave up hope that he could solve it, and he made me believe that this could be solved.”
On Thursday, Daniels, who was 25 years old at the time of Hooper’s murder, faced a Franklin County Municipal Court judge for an arraignment hearing. He was issued a $500,00 bond and ordered to next appear in court for a preliminary court date March 14.
