Lonzo Guthrie Trial Begins In Killing Of Eileen Ferro

Testimony in the trial of a 70-year-old man charged in a decades-old homicide began Tuesday.

Lonzo Guthrie is accused of stabbing 21-year-old Eileen Ferro to death in her Shrewsbury home in 1974. Guthrie, who worked as a mover at the time, had delivered furniture to Ferro’s home the day before her body was found.

The case went unsolved for nearly four decades until a DNA test in 2010 linked a small drop of blood found on Ferro’s floor to Guthrie, who had previously submitted a sample as part of a rape conviction in California. He was arrested and charged with her murder in 2014.

According to MassLive, prosecutors in court today painted a grisly portrait of the crime scene and rested much of their case on the droplet of blood. The site said Guthrie’s attorneys have attempted to discount the evidence, arguing that as a mover he was susceptible to cuts and scratches, which would explain the blood.

His defense team posits Ferro’s husband, Tony Ferro, as the actual killer, citing her alleged affair and claims that he had threatened her.

Guthrie has plead not guilty to the charges.