Overview

• Baltimore County police charged Donald Wesley Lester, 68, with first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, Linda May Lester.
• He is held without bond at the Baltimore County Detention Center, with a bail review set for Friday afternoon.
• Investigators say new DNA analysis of evidence preserved since 1994, coupled with fresh interviews, produced the basis for the charges.
• Linda Lester was last seen on Oct. 11, 1994, after leaving work to retrieve her 2-year-old from Lester’s Randallstown home; her body was found days later off I-70 near the Patapsco River bridge.
• Charging documents cite accounts describing Lester’s violent temper and alleged abuse toward his wife, prior partners, and children.