The Anna Petrus Murder in Adams

The Anna Petrus Murder in Adams
Anna Petrus was found murdered on the office floor of her motel, the Cozy Rest Motel, in Adams on May 28, 1995. She was beaten with a claw hammer during what appeared to be a robbery. A bloody fingerprint was found at the scene.

The fingerprint would have had to been matched with over 460 fingerprint cards by hand, and was sent all over the continental US and to a number of law enforcement agencies in an attempt to solve the crime.

But on Jun. 25, 1999 the newly created SAFIS, the Statewide Automated Fingerprint Identification System, was used to solve the case - which was only the 27th time the new system had been used. The murder was solved when the bloody fingerprint from the crime scene was matched to Adrian J. Rusho, a person known in the community, after he was arrested for petty larceny. He had had no criminal record before this arrest.

He was later convicted of second degree murder on May 23, 2000 and was sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison.

Also see
Her brother-in-law was murdered in an unrelated case

Notorious Jefferson County Crime

CNY Murder Cases Solved With Forensics