DNA links US man to 1995 murder of bridesmaid in his wedding

Teacher Mary Edwards was murdered in the bath in 1995. Now 26 years on, the man she was a bridesmaid for has been charged with her death.

Mary Catherine Edwards: Ohio man Clayton Bernard Foreman accused of bridesmaid murder. Picture: Texas Department of Public Safety

A US man has been arrested for sexual assault and murder of a woman 26 years ago who was a bridesmaid in his wedding.

Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, was linked to the 1995 cold case of Texas school teacher Mary Catherine Edwards through DNA and a genealogy website that had investigators eyeing the accused killer’s family tree.

“We could track it to a family, but we couldn’t track it to an individual,” District Attorney Bob Wortham told 12NewsNow.

Police have arrested Clayton Bernard Foreman for the alleged 1995 murder of school teacher Mary Catherine Edwards. Picture: Beaumont Police Department

Police were able to extract DNA from rubbish Foreman left at the kerb outside his home in Ohio and took him into custody on April 29, the NY Post reports.

His DNA was a match to DNA from semen found in Edwards’ home after her murder.

Edwards was found dead in the bathroom of her home on January 14, 1995, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety website.

She had been drowned with her hands cuffed behind her back and her head in water in the bathtub, KJAS.com reported.

Investigators focused their attention on Foreman and found he had a previous conviction for raping a classmate in the 1980s. In that case, the victim reportedly also had her hands bound behind her back.

School teacher Mary was a bridesmaid at Foreman’s wedding in 1982, according to reports. Picture: Texas Department of Public Safety

Foreman reportedly pleaded guilty to that crime and received three years of probation.

Edwards, who was 31 when she was killed, had been a high school classmate of Foreman’s and a bridesmaid in his 1982 wedding, the report said.

He and his wife divorced two years before Edward’s murder and his ex was said to have attended Edwards’ funeral.

She lived alone in her townhouse and when she didn’t answer calls her father went to the house and found her dead.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission