On August 25, 2023, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office announced that Bryan Scott Bennett was the lead suspect in the June 13, 1987 rape and murder of 23-year-old Cathy Sposito in Prescott, Arizona. He has also been linked to two further victims of sexual assault. The cases have been cleared by exception due to the death of Bennett.
Sposito was attacked, sexually assaulted, and killed while hiking along Thumb Butte Trail. Hikers in the area heard her screams, but she could not be reached in time. She was bludgeoned with a rock and a wrench, shot in the eye with a .22 caliber pistol, and stabbed in the side of her head.
The second victim was sexually assaulted on the same trail in April of 1990. She survived the attack, and a DNA sample was taken from a SAK.
The third victim, Renee Sandoval, then 22, was sexually assaulted in Prescott on June 2, 1993. Sandoval was kidnapped at knifepoint after leaving a post office and sexually assaulted several times in her vehicle. A police officer pulled over the car for a headlight infraction, and she escaped. He was not charged for this offence due to a lack of evidence and “discrepancies in witness stories.”
A DNA profile of the suspect was developed from blood found on the wrench used to kill Sposito, as well as the Sexual Assault Kit taken from the second victim.
The FGG investigation was conducted by Parabon Nanolabs in partnership with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office. Kinship testing was performed on Bennett’s brother and daughter. The final confirmation was made upon exhuming Bennett’s remains in Kentucky in November of 2022.
Bennett was charged and tried for an attempted sexual assault at a house party in Chino Valley, California in July of 1990. He cornered the victim in a room, locked the door, and attempted to sexually assault her. The attack was interrupted when other partygoers broke the door open. He was acquitted at trial for this offence, based on discrepancies in eyewitness testimony. He was also convicted of forgery in 1991 and received three years of probation.
Bennett died by suicide in Kentucky on January 27, 1994. He was 16 years old when he killed Sposito. Police continue to investigate him for further offences.
Sources:
AZ Family Digital News Staff. “Pulled from the Grave: Man Tied to Decades-Old Prescott College Student’s Murder.” AZ Family, August 25, 2023. Accessed August 27, 2023. https://www.azfamily.com/2023/08/25/yavapai-county-sheriff-give-new-details-into-1987-murder-college-student/.
Deliso, Meredith. “Suspected Killer Identified in 1987 Cold Case Murder of Woman on Hiking Trail.” ABC News, August 25, 2023. Accessed August 27, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspected-killer-identified-1987-cold-case-arizona/story?id=102573452.
Kandel, Jason. “DNA Links Dead ‘Serial Predator’ to Murder of College Student Bludgeoned with Rock, Wrench and Shot in the Eye Nearly 4 Decades Ago: Sheriff.” Law & Crime, August 25, 2023. Accessed August 27, 2023. https://lawandcrime.com/crime/dna-links-dead-serial-predator-to-murder-of-college-student-bludgeoned-with-rock-wrench-and-shot-in-the-eye-nearly-4-decades-ago-sheriff/.
Winters, Debra. “Sheriff’s Office Links 1987 Sposito Murder, Other Assaults to Man Who Killed Himself in 1994.” Daily Courier, August 25, 2023. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.dcourier.com/news/2023/aug/25/sheriffs-office-links-1987-sposito-murder-3-assaul/.