DNA links 1987 cold case to prolific Colorado serial killer
Nearly 40 years after a motorist spotted the naked body of Rhonda Marie Fisher, 30, along a rural Colorado highway, new DNA evidence has implicated one of the state’s “most prolific serial killers.”
Fisher was sexually assaulted and strangled, then thrown down an embankment about 35 miles south of Denver on April 1, 1987.
Police questioned everyone from an acquaintance she was staying with to “several serial offenders” active in the area at the time. Among them were Vincent Darrell Groves and another man, but investigators did not have DNA confirmation so the case remained cold.
“Despite extensive investigation and periodic reviews spanning nearly four decades, the case remains unsolved,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, noting that even new DNA testing in 2017 did not provide enough evidence to identify Fisher’s killer.
Fast forward to 2025, when the bureau’s cold case unit has reopened the investigation, reviewing all the evidence again. They also managed to recover DNA from paper bags that police had placed on Fisher’s hands at the original crime scene to preserve trace evidence — an “exceptionally rare” feat, Sheriff Darren Weekly told Denver ABC affiliate KMGH.
What was not Fisher’s DNA matched DNA found in three murders committed by Groves in 1979. Police hold him responsible for at least 12 homicides, an attempted murder and a sexual assault in the Denver metro area between 1978 and 1988. Now, Fisher is added to the list and police suspect there could be as many as 20 victims.
Groves was convicted of murder in 1982, but released from prison less than five years later, “only to commit other violent crimes,” according to DCSO. Two more murder convictions in 1988 sent him back to prison, where he died in 1996.
“While Vincent Groves cannot be held accountable in a court of law, we hope this long-awaited resolution brings answers and a measure of peace to the family and friends of Rhonda Fisher,” Sheriff Weekly said in the DCSO release. “Rhonda Fisher was a mother, daughter, sister and friend. Her case exemplifies the dedication of DCSO investigators, forensic partners and cold case specialists who continue to work tirelessly, often for years, to bring closure to families who have endured unimaginable waits.”
