Jessica Dishon went missing in 1999, she was violently beaten, abused and killed

Oct 3, 2013 13:43 GMT  ·  By

Police believe that they have solved a murder case which has been open since 1999. 17-year-old Jessica Dishon disappeared from her home before school and she was found raped and killed in a remote area.

Sheriff David Greenwell, of Bullitt County, Kentucky, has charged Dishon's uncle in her murder. Stanley Dishon is also being accused of rape and sodomy.

"The Bullitt County grand jury has returned an indictment in Jessica Dishon's murder case. [...] They've indicted Stanley Dishon for her murder," Greenwell says in a press conference, as reported by WAVE 3.

Greenwell did not provide information about what led police to Stanley Dishon, and did not confirm the existence of a confession.

"You've got to remember. An indictment doesn't mean he's guilty," says Paul Parsley, former Bullitt County sheriff.

At the time, police had arrested two men in the Dishon case. David "Bucky" Brooks and his brother, Tommy Brooks, were dubbed the culprits, and Bucky was considered as the main suspect.

"You know, he ended up doing two or three years of his life in prison for something that he had nothing to do with," resident Ryan Moore argues.

The victim was last seen alive on September 10, 1999, in the morning. Her mother, Edna Dishon, watched her as she prepared to go to school. When she returned home in the evening, she noticed that the teen's red Pontiac Sunfire was still in the driveway.

The girl hadn't taken her cellphone, purse, keys or backpack with her. The bottom of her driver’s seat also has a plastic part broken off.

A massive search followed and police found Jessica’s lifeless body 17 days later, in a landfill at Salt River bottoms. An investigation showed that she had been brutally raped and strangled to death.

"A lot of hearts can start to mend now, and hopefully some forgiveness among neighbors," Greenwell expresses.