A Baltimore man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Teresa Ann Houck, a 23-year-old dancer whose body was found nude from the waist down in Druid Hill Park nearly four decades ago, after a DNA database match finally identified a suspect. David Alexander Williams faces murder and related charges in connection with Houck's death, according to the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office.
Houck worked as a dancer at the Pussycat Club in the 400 block of East Baltimore Street, a stretch of the city known as “The Block,” according to Explore Baltimore Heritage. As reported by FOX45 News, Houck left the club around 2 a.m. on October 22, 1986, and was never seen alive again. Her vehicle was later found abandoned in a parking lot near Baltimore and Holiday streets.
Her body was discovered around 10:30 a.m. that same day in a grassy area near Red Run and Hanlon drives inside Druid Hill Park, the outlet's reporting states. She had been shot multiple times in the head, neck and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believed at the time that Houck had been taken to the park by another means rather than traveling there herself, per the same account.
Sperm Cells Led to a DNA Profile in 2005
Prosecutors said evidence collected during Houck's autopsy, including vaginal swabs, was later tested for DNA, and that she had been the victim of an apparent sexual assault. Scientists identified sperm cells from that evidence and developed a male DNA profile in 2005, which was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the station's report notes.
That profile sat in the database for nearly two decades until investigators collected a DNA sample from Williams in July 2025. Maryland State Police notified Baltimore Police of a high-stringency match to Williams in September 2025, and investigators went on to collect an additional DNA sample from him in May 2026 to confirm the finding, the article notes.
The Baltimore Police Department crime lab ultimately confirmed that Williams was the sole contributor of the sperm cells recovered during Houck's 1986 autopsy. Maryland's DNA collection framework, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Maryland v. King, permits police to collect cheek swab samples from arrestees held for serious offenses; Maryland's statute covers qualifying violent crimes and specified burglary offenses rather than all felonies, according to the Legal Information Institute. By October 2022, Maryland's statewide DNA database had already produced more than 10,000 total investigative matches, including 1,480 arrestee hits tied to a 2009 statutory expansion, per The BayNet.
Prosecutor Points to Advances in Forensic Technology
Baltimore State's Attorney Ivan Bates announced the charge against Williams. Williams is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Bates established a specialized Cold Case Unit within his office in April 2024 to work alongside Baltimore Police on unsolved homicides, according to Police1.
A City With a Shrinking Backlog and Falling Homicides
Houck's case arrives amid a broader shift in Baltimore's homicide statistics. Police leadership reported in January 2026 that the department's homicide clearance rate was approximately 60% to 70%; the rate was 29.7% in 2015, and the 2015–2019 average was 38.7%. City reporting confirmed in September 2026 that Baltimore recorded 133 homicides in 2025, its lowest annual total in nearly 50 years, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Druid Hill Park, where Houck's body was found, is in Baltimore.
It remains unknown whether Williams had any prior relationship with Houck, and it is unclear whether the State's Attorney's Office plans to compare his DNA profile against other unsolved violent crime cold cases from that era.
