DNA links 1996 cold case to man named in ‘Serial’ podcast

A late man from Baltimore County, Md., named in the popular podcast “Serial” has been accused of a decades-old South Carolina cold case murder. 

Ronald Lee Moore, a convicted serial burglar, was a DNA match to evidence in the death of Shawn Marie Neal, who was found strangled in her North Myrtle Beach condo in 1996, North Myrtle Beach police confirmed to reporters Wednesday.

The investigation into Neal’s death went cold at the time, and police made no arrests.

The case was reopened in 2017, and DNA from towels and a bedspread in the South Carolina condo were matched against the national database. Moore’s DNA was also found on some of Neal’s clothing.

Authorities confirmed that Moore, who did not live in Myrtle Beach or have ties there, could have traveled through the area on his way from Maryland to Louisiana, where he reportedly had friends.

Moore was brought to national attention when he was named as a suspect in the 1999 killing of Baltimore resident Hae Min Lee, the subject of the popular “Serial” podcast. But DNA evidence in the case did not match Moore or Adnan Syad, the man who was later convicted in Lee’s death, USA Today reported.

He was also suspected in other burglaries, sexual assaults and homicides in Maryland in 1999. Baltimore police named Moore a suspect in the 1999 murder of Annelise Hyang Suk Lee in 2013 using DNA testing.

Moore died in 2008 while in jail for unrelated charges in Louisiana, North Myrtle Beach police confirmed.