The murder of Barbara Waldman, a mother of three young children who was found bound and killed inside of her New York home 52 years ago, has been solved, according to authorities.
Waldman was discovered dead inside of her home in Oceanside, located on Long Island, on January 11, 1974, according to the Nassau County Police Department. She was 31 years old.
Decades after the case went cold, investigative genetic genealogy has connected a suspect to the crime, police announced in a Wednesday, March 11 news release.
A man named Thomas Generazio, who also lived in Oceanside, killed Waldman, DNA evidence has revealed, according to authorities.
Thirty years after the murder, Generazio died at age 57 in 2004, police said.
Generazio was a sanitation worker who lived near Waldman’s home, which she shared with her husband and three children, according to a news release shared by DNASolves, a database run by Othram, which helps authorities solve cold cases through forensic science.
The day of her murder, one of Waldman’s sons found her fatally shot after he returned home from school, according to officials. He had been in kindergarten at the time.
He found his mother lying face down, with her hands tied and stockings around her neck, police said at a March 11 news conference, WABC-TV reported.
“I’ve had the image of my mom in my head since I’m 5, and it won’t go away until I die,” her son, Eric Waldman, said at the news conference, according to the TV station.
Police said that Generazio “committed a violent sexual assault against [Barbara] and put a bullet in the back of her head as she lay on the floor, tied up with the stockings she was wearing,” WABC-TV reported.
Investigators were able to link Generazio to the deadly assault while working with the FBI and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, according to police.
With Generazio confirmed as the murder suspect, Barbara’s daughter, Marla Waldman, said that her father Gerry Waldman has been declared innocent in connection with Barbara’s death, PIX11 News reported.
“Happily, today — 52 years later, I get to say to the world my father, Gerry Waldman, is exonerated,” Marla said, according to the outlet. “He was a victim, not a villain.”
Gerry, who worked as a dentist when Barbara died, was initially questioned in relation to her murder, Newsday reported.
Gerry had been at work when Barbara was killed, his family told Newsday. A DNA swab he provided to police years later demonstrated his innocence, his family said.
At the news conference, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that authorities “would have liked to have seen [Generazio] in jail for that entire time for that brutal murder that he did, the animal that he was that day, taking that mother from her three children, just inexcusable,” WABC-TV reported.
