Prosecutor: 1982 Cleveland slaying and rape solved

CLEVELAND - DNA genetic evidence was used to solve the June 1982 shooting death of one woman and the rape of another who was shot and left for dead but survived, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor announced Wednesday.

Prosecutor Bill Mason, standing beside the survivor, said Richard Wilson, 56, faces a possible death sentence if convicted of charges including aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery.

The two women were abducted from downtown Cleveland and forced to drive to a secluded area. Mary Ann Finegan, 42, was fatally shot and a 38-year-old woman was raped, shot twice and left for dead. She was found alive 15 hours later.

Wilson is in prison in LaBelle, Pa., on a three- to 10-year sentence for a 2003 robbery conviction out of Erie, Pa., according to the Pennsylvania prison system.

The survivor stood without emotion but clenched her fingers as Mason described the attack and DNA match which led to the charges. She said she was determined to help the prosecution.

"I'm a witness to what he did, what he said, where he was, and he should be brought to justice and certainly I will testify," said the woman, who asked that her name be withheld and her face not be photographed to protect her identity. "And I may be nervous when I do so, but it's the right thing to do."

Mason described Wilson as a career criminal who had been in and out of prison for decades. There is no evidence connecting Wilson to other crimes in the area, Mason said.

The DNA match resulted from work done by a cold-case squad created in Mason's office four years ago.

"We're going to continue to push forward on every case that we have," he said.

The victim, a former teacher, said she was friends for years with Finegan, a teacher and guidance counselor. "We were friends, we were close," she said.

No attorney was listed for Wilson in the newly created docket file for him. A message was left for one of his earlier defense attorneys in Pennsylvania.