Inmate indicted in Girl Scout's '75 slaying

A man awaiting trial in another 1975 killing has been indicted on murder charges in the slaying, also 33 years ago, of a Girl Scout who disappeared while she was delivering boxes of cookies, prosecutors said Friday.

Jerome Sidney Barrett was indicted Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and felony murder in the death of Marcia Trimble, said prosecutors in Nashville, Tennessee. The indictment was made public Friday.

The case is the city's most notorious unsolved slaying, officials noted, and "recent scientific evidence" connected Barrett to the girl's murder.

"The murder of Marcia Trimble is one that has affected the entire Nashville community," District Attorney General Victor "Torry" Johnson said in a written statement.

 

"It's a case that no one has forgotten," the top prosecutor added. "For the benefit of the Trimble family, I am pleased to be able to make this announcement today."

Barrett is currently jailed and awaiting trial in the death of 19-year-old Vanderbilt student Sarah Des Prez, who was slain in February 1975 -- the same month as Trimble. He was arrested in that case in November.

In 1976, Barrett was convicted of raping another college student, also in February 1975, and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He was released in 2002.

Trimble disappeared on February 25. After weeks of extensive searches, her body was found in the garage of a Nashville home on March 30, prosecutors said.

The girl's mother, Virginia, released a statement after learning of the indictment, according to CNN affiliate WKRN.

"It sounds as if this could be the next chapter in the life and death of Marcia Trimble," she said in the statement. She thanked the Nashville community for its continued support, and police and prosecutors for their determination to solve the case, which she said "has haunted us all for 33 years."

Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said he spoke to Virginia Trimble after he arrived in Nashville in 2004, and "assured her this department would never give up on Marcia's case or any other unsolved homicide."

No further arrests in the case are expected, the district attorney's office said. Barrett will be arraigned in the coming weeks. He is set to go on trial in the Des Prez murder in October.