Nearly 45 years after 22-year-old Lois Marshall was killed in her Galveston home, police say they finally know who did it. The man they believe is responsible, however, died before he could ever be brought into a courtroom.
Galveston police say preserved crime scene evidence from 1981 was re-examined with modern forensic tools and ultimately tied to a single suspect, William Clifford Lawrence. Investigators developed probable cause this spring to charge Lawrence in Marshall's Sept. 11, 1981 killing, but he died before prosecutors could file the case. For Marshall's family and detectives, the development closes a case that had sat cold for nearly 45 years.
Marshall was found dead inside her Avenue O home on Sept. 11, 1981. Investigators determined she had been bound and gagged, sexually assaulted and suffered extensive blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation, according to FOX 26 Houston. Officers at the time collected biological samples and latent fingerprints that were preserved as the years passed. Detectives say those items were later re-examined as forensic technology improved and ultimately became the key to naming a suspect.
Fingerprint And DNA Breakthrough
According to officials, a latent fingerprint recovered at the scene in 1981 was eventually identified as belonging to William Clifford Lawrence. Detectives then sought to interview him in March 2025 before obtaining a search warrant to collect a DNA sample. The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory confirmed a DNA match on March 27, 2025.
Over the following year, investigators and the Galveston County District Attorney's Office continued building the case, and in April 2026 they determined there was probable cause to charge Lawrence with capital murder. "This was a brutal and deeply disturbing crime," investigators said in their news release, as reported by FOX 26 Houston.
Legal Status And Next Steps
The district attorney documented that probable cause existed to seek a capital murder charge, but Lawrence died of natural causes on April 19, 2026, before prosecutors could formally file. His death is listed in local funeral-home records.
The Galveston Police Department says it has now officially cleared the case and publicly thanked partner agencies, including the DPS Crime Lab and the Texas Rangers, for their roles in the long-running investigation, according to the department's release on the city's police page (Galveston Police Department) and local funeral listings (McBride Funeral Home).
Why It Matters
The case underscores how preserved evidence, combined with modern forensic methods, can finally resolve decades-old murders even when prosecution is no longer possible. Advances in DNA extraction and matching have powered a wave of cold-case breakthroughs across Texas and the rest of the country, as highlighted in Othram press materials.
On Galveston Island, that same renewed focus on old files has prompted families and investigators to take fresh looks at other unsolved killings. Local reporting has recently chronicled how a lost Seawall murder file resurfaced 56 years later, a reminder that in cold-case work, time can cut both ways.
