Missouri man charged with murder in suburban Chicago in 1966 based on DNA evidence

CREVE COEUR, Mo. — A 79-year-old Missouri man is accused of killing a woman in her suburban Chicago home – a crime that occurred nearly six decades ago.

James Barbier was arrested Monday at his home in St. Louis County and charged with first-degree murder in the November 1966 death of 18-year-old Karen Snider in Cook County, Illinois.

The break came when police reopened the cold case in December 2022 and sent blood results to a lab, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The blood matched that of Barbier. After his arrest, he was extradited to Cook County.

Prosecutors said Barbier was released Thursday. Prosecutors did not try to keep him in prison because of his age and “physical frailty.” He is prohibited from leaving Missouri or Illinois and was required to surrender his passport and firearms. He faces another court hearing on May 21st.

It was not clear whether Barbier had an attorney. Phone calls to his home went unanswered Saturday.

Snider’s body was found by her husband, Paul, on the night of Nov. 12, 1966, after he arrived home late to their home in Calumet City, Illinois, prosecutors wrote in court documents. The couple’s two-month-old daughter was unharmed in a crib.

According to the coroner’s office, Karen Snider was stabbed approximately 125 times. Barbier, who worked with Paul Snider at a rail yard, was arrested in 1966 but never charged. Authorities did not say why.