Murder of Sharron Prior

Sharron Kim Prior was born on 9 February 1959 to Yvonne Prior; == Murder ==

Disappearance On 29 March 1975, Prior left her house around 7 pm to meet some friends and her boyfriend at a nearby pizzeria in Wellington Street, Pointe-Saint-Charles, but never arrived. When she had not returned home by 11 pm, her mother Yvonne reported her disappearance to the police. Police and volunteers began a major search in Pointe-Saint-Charles to find Prior. Discovery Three days later, Prior's body was found in a wooded area of Longueuil, across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. A man's T-shirt had been used to restrain her and tire tracks were found at the crime scene. == Investigation ==

Autopsy Autopsies revealed she had been raped, beaten and suffocated. As a result, police required that the body of Franklin Maywood Romine, who died in 1983, be exhumed. Éric Racicot, the Longueuil Police detective on the case, said local databases showed Romine had two addresses in Montreal and Longueuil at the time of the murder of Prior. Romine had an extensive criminal record and had encounters with Montreal and American police, including one rape conviction, but was not initially a suspect in Prior's killing. Franklin Romine's DNA matched with the evidence found at Prior's murder scene and his physical description matched that of the man who tried to abduct the woman on Wellington Street. Additionally, Romine's car was compatible with the tire tracks found near Prior's body, confirming that Romine was Prior's murderer. Since Romine is dead, no charges were called against him and the case has now been closed. Prior's sister Doreen said, "The solving of Sharron's case will never bring Sharron back, but knowing that her killer is no longer on this Earth and won't kill anymore, brings us to somewhat of a closure." ==See also==