DNA leads to arrest in killing of 89-year-old

Police have arrested a North Linden man in the fatal stabbing of an elderly woman in her East Side home last month.

Willie L. Dumas, 58, was charged with murder on Friday in the slaying of Anna Eblen, 89. Columbus police homicide detectives said they used DNA evidence to connect Dumas, of 3141McGuffey Rd., to the April 17 killing.

Neighbors called police to Eblen’s home that evening after finding it odd that her back door was ajar. Officers found Eblen in the house at 3095 E. 12th Ave. with knife wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said she was stabbed repeatedly in an attempted robbery.

Neighbors said Eblen lived with her husband, Harold, at their home just west of Port Columbus and north of Krumm Park. Mr. Eblen, 92, had been sick and was being cared for outside the home when his wife was killed.

Detectives quickly turned their attention to the house next door after the crime.

Fedelma Dumas told a Dispatch reporter in April that she shared that home with her 58-year-old brother, whom records identify as Willie. Both were under police scrutiny at the time, but Fedelma said in April that neither was responsible.

Officers arrested her brother on Friday. He is being held without bond in the Franklin County jail Downtown.