ONEIDA, NY – A man from Oneida, New York, is being held for extradition to Germany following a breakthrough in a cold case dating back nearly 45 years. James Patrick Dempsey, 66, is linked to the rape and murder of a woman in the late 70s through DNA forensics, with a 1-in-270 quadrillion match, as revealed in court documents.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven C. Green, in a document submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on February 13, 2024, requested Dempsey’s detention until the end of the extradition process. Dempsey is facing charges of aggravated murder in Germany.
The court records indicate that between June 8 and June 11, 1978, Bärbel Gansau, 35, was killed in her apartment in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The investigation revealed that Gansau used to keep her bathroom window open for her cats, which was about 39 inches off the ground and visible from a nearby walkway.
While Gansau was asleep, she was attacked and stabbed 37 times, with the fatal wound being a stab to the center of her chest. The investigators concluded that Gansau was caught off guard and was unable to defend herself.
The investigators collected three unique fingerprints from the crime scene, including one from the bathroom window frame. They also found blood and other evidence on the bedsheet between Gansau’s legs.
According to a close friend of Gansau’s, she was attracted to American men and often visited clubs for non-commissioned officers at a nearby U.S. Army base. Despite identifying several soldiers Gansau had been involved with, the investigators could not identify a suspect at the time.
The case was reopened in 2020 due to advancements in DNA forensics. The fingerprint was sent to an FBI liaison officer in Berlin for analysis, suspecting the murderer might be an American soldier. Dempsey’s fingerprints, found in a U.S. database, matched those collected from the crime scene.
Dempsey served in the U.S. Army from November 1976 to December 1978 and was stationed in Ludwigsburg from 1977 to late 1978. Court documents reveal that Dempsey developed a drinking problem during his service, which led to aggressive behavior and a brief stint in rehab in June 1978.
In 2022, DNA from the crime scene was compared to DNA found during a trash pull from Dempsey’s house, resulting in a match. On June 24, 2022, a German court issued a warrant for Dempsey’s arrest. He was finally arrested on February 13, 2024, by the U.S. Marshals Service.