32-Year-Old America’s Most Wanted Missouri Cold Case Now Solved

Technology just helped close a terrible nearly 33-year-old Missouri cold case as DNA evidence convicted a rapist.

The Missouri Attorney General's Office just issued a statement of how advancements in technology helped investigators solve a crime that is now nearly 33-years-old. It says that two women were hiking in the Henning State Conservation Area in Taney County, Missouri on August 15, 1992. A man attacked both women by hitting them on the head with rocks.

The state of Missouri says that one woman pretended to be dead before she escaped. The other woman was forcibly raped by the man. Both women would later appear on America's Most Wanted in hopes of catching their attacker, but the breakthrough didn't happen until recently when undercover investigators were able to locate discarded DNA evidence from 63-year-old Tony Lee Wagner. The Missouri Attorney General's Office said "a lab analysis confirmed that Wagner’s DNA matched the sexual assault kit from 1992, conclusively identifying him as the perpetrator."

The Missouri State Highway Patrol worked with the Fort Scott, Kansas, Police Department to obtain the DNA needed for testing to determine if Wagner was guilty of these crimes.

Tony Lee Wagner will be sentenced for his crimes on July 11, 2025 in a Taney County, Missouri court.