BEAUMONT, Texas — The jury has been selected in the trial of Clayton Foreman, 63 of Reynoldsburgh, Ohio. He's being charged for the murder of Beaumont teacher Mary Cathine Edwards 30 years ago after new DNA evidence was discovered.
Teh jury is comprised of six men and six women. There are two female alternate and one male alternate.
For a painfully long time the murder of the beloved Price Elementary teacher went unsolved after she was found dead in her home January 14, 1995. Upon investigating police ruled the death a homicide and collected evidence at the scene including the suspect's DNA.
Edwards, 31, lived alone in Beaumont and was a school teacher in the city. She was last seen alive on Friday, Jan. 13, 1995, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The next day, investigators said she didn’t answer any phone calls. Her lack of response prompted her parents to pay her a visit to her house on Park Meadow Drive.
When the parents arrived, they found Edwards dead in her bathroom. Evidence showed that Edwards had been sexually assaulted and killed, according to a DPS news release.
RELATED: Southeast Texas investigators close to wrapping up Beaumont cold-case murder of Mary Edwards
Sadly the forensics of the 90's simply were not as effective as they are today, and as the years passed the case went cold, leaving the Edwards family without closure and the perpetrator free.
However, due to massive leaps in forensic technology, the rise of data bases like Gedmatch and some clever police work a massive break in the case was made in 2021.
After entering the suspect's DNA into a data base of 30 other DNA files that were voluntarily submitted, detectives got a hit on two DNA connections on both the maternal and paternal side.
After connecting both the matches, detectives zeroed in on the child of the DNA union, leading them to Foreman who they then found out went to the same high school as Edwards. They also found that he had been convicted of an earlier assault.
With this new revelation, on April 15, 2021, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigations Cincinnati Field Office and Reynoldsburg Ohio Police Department trash was collected from outside Foreman's home. They were able to collect a sample of Foreman's DNA which was an exact match to the DNA found at the crime scene back in 1995.
Foreman was then indicted in June 2021 for capital murder.
Further investigation revealed Edwards was a bridesmaid in the wedding of Foreman and his first wife, Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham previously told 12News.
During their investigation into Foreman, detectives discovered he pled guilty to raping a classmate at Forest Park High School in 1981.
In that case, police said that Foreman gave the victim a ride home after finding her stranded at a gas station. Police say Foreman "bound her hands behind her back with a belt and held a knife to her throat" before sexually assaulting her.
Police say that 1981 rape had a number of similarities with Edwards' murder.
Edwards and Foreman both previously attended Forest Park High School.
Prosecutors say the case is expected to take several weeks. There are 73 witnesses set to testify. All of the witnesses will be in person except for one, Dr. Charles Harvey , who is the original forensic pathologist in Edward's autopsy.
A hearing was held last week in which it was decided he will testify via Zoom because he has a medical condition that prevents him from travel.