A Racine man was convicted of the 1986 murder of a young woman whose body was found in a swamp in a natural area of Green Bay.
Lou A. Griffin, 67, pleaded no contest in Brown County Circuit Court on Friday to a reckless-conduct manslaughter charge, and a judge found him guilty. His sentencing is set for March 27.
Griffin entered his guilty plea as potential jurors appeared in court Friday before his trial was scheduled to start Monday in the death of 22-year-old Lisa Holstead.
Griffin was originally charged in October 2020 with first-degree intentional manslaughter for Holstead’s murder. His body was found in a swamp in a natural area of Green Bay in August 1986.
The Holstead murder had been the oldest unsolved murder case in Brown County.
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A Wisconsin man was found guilty of reckless conduct manslaughter in the 1986 murder of a 22-year-old woman. The man did not plead guilty.
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Investigators said that at the time of her murder, Griffin lived just a few miles from where her body was found.
Griffin was identified as a suspect in Holstead’s murder after Green Bay police sent DNA evidence found on her body to a company that performs forensic genetic genealogy testing. That test provided information about the suspect’s heritage and possible relatives.
Griffin was eventually placed under police surveillance and DNA that was collected from cigarettes and beer cans that he had discarded matched DNA collected in the murder case, police said.
Griffin told investigators that he may have had sex with Holstead but denied killing her, police said.
