VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Virginia Beach Police believe they are on the verge of solving an almost 30-year-old murder investigation.
In 1991, 44-year-old Michele Pore worked at a law office on Lynnhaven Parkway.
“She very pleasant, spunky and easy to work with,” her coworker told us at the time.
On Feb. 19, 1991, police found Pore dead in her trunk parked outside the office. She had a plastic bag stuffed in her mouth. The medical examiner said she had been strangled by her own scarf and suffocated.
“In a violent death like this when you don’t know what’s happening, you have this feeling that it will never be ending and that it will go on until everything is answered,” Pore’s friend told us.
For nearly 30 years, those answers have eluded those who know Pore best.
Just days after Pore was killed, her purse and other items were found on the side of the road near Stumpy Lake.
According to court paperwork, police quickly developed a suspect. They say a man who worked in the same building as Pore was seen next to her car the night she was killed. Detectives say his story never added up.
The man was never charged and for that reason, we aren’t releasing his name.
Recently, detectives served a search warrant at the man’s house in Portsmouth. They wanted his saliva for DNA.
Police say in 2017 they sent Pore’s shoes off to a private lab for testing. The lab was able to come up with a man’s DNA profile. Police say they were able to match it partially to the suspect, but to make an arrest they need a full DNA profile.