Cold case grew warmer over time

Michael A. Hersh makes his first court appearance Friday, in Clark County Superior Court on murder charger stemming from a 1978 killing. (The Columbian/Zachary Kaufman)

Michael A. Hersh is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the 1978 murder of a Vancouver woman, Norma Simerly. The body of the victim is removed in this file photo. (File/The Columbian)

Newly discovered DNA evidence preserved from a piece of wood and a London Fog jacket have allegedly linked a man to the 1978 murder of a Vancouver woman.

Michael A. Hersh, 47, made his first appearance in Clark County Superior Court Friday to face charges accusing him of bludgeoning 47-year-old Norma L. Simerly with a piece of firewood and stabbing her in the chest.

Prosecutors filed first- and second-degree murder charges against Hersh Tuesday after a recent investigation yielded DNA evidence from those items found at the murder scene.

He will be arraigned Dec. 19.

The murder occurred April 28, 1978 at 200 E. 38th St., in Vancouver’s Lincoln neighborhood. Simerly had just arrived home from work when an intruder entered, attacked her with a piece of firewood and stabbed her four times, according to an affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court.

Simerly lived with her husband, who wasn’t at home.

Investigators believed robbery was the motivator because the assailant fled in her car and apparently took money from her wallet, the affidavit said.

At the time, investigators had little evidence, besides a description of the suspect. Then three months later, Hersh was arrested in connection with the bludgeoning of another woman at a home in the Lake Shore neighborhood.

That victim, Joy Towers, was beaten with a shovel handle but survived after her 9-year-old son interrupted the attack. Sheriff’s deputies responded, and Hersh was found inside the home.

He was charged with robbery, assault, kidnapping and burglary, and is currently serving time at the Clallam Bay Correctional Facility. He is eligible for parole in October 2011.

Hersh, then 17, lived at 1412 N.W. Summit Drive with his parents.

Similarities

Thirty years ago, investigators noted similarities between the two cases: The attacks happened during the day, there was no forced entry and, in both cases, the suspect loitered outside the house beforehand, according to the affidavit.

In the Lakeshore Drive attack, Hersh had gained access to the woman’s home after showing up at her door to say that her kids were pelting his house with eggs. In the April murder, investigators don’t know how he gained entry.

Hersh also matched a physical description of the alleged murderer.

Hersh became a suspect in 1978. “However, at that point there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge him with the crime,” said Clark County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Fairgrieve.

Cold case
Twenty years later, Vancouver Police Detective Harry Russell processed DNA from the murder, but the results were inconclusive. But in 2002, detectives, believing advances in forensic technology could provide a link, reopened it.

“Vancouver police detectives opened the cold case to determine whether there was modern testing that could be performed,” Fairgrieve said. “The answer was yes.”

Starting in 2002, detectives began sending the long-preserved physical evidence to crime labs. Over the next five years, they sent a liquor bottle, knife, hair from a towel, a London Fog raincoat and piece of bark. All those items were found at the murder scene or in Simerly’s stolen car, which was abandoned on railroad tracks, according to the affidavit.

The bark is believed to be from the firewood used in the killing. The rain jacket had been found in the car.

DNA results on several of the items was inconclusive.

But on July 2, 2008, detectives received results that showed the bark and jacket both contained DNA that, when later compared to a sample of Hersh’s DNA profile, matched, according to the affidavit.

Hersh remains in custody at the Clallam Bay prison.

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Below is the location of the scene of the crime.


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