Woman kidnapped from gift shop and murdered, DNA on toothbrush identifies her killer

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: April 15, 1991, started as an average day for 24-year-old Lisa Zeigert, then she disappeared.

The next morning, one of Lisa’s card shop co-workers went to the store and became worried because all the lights were on and Lisa’s belongings were still there. Then, family and friends grew more concerned when Lisa failed to show up to her job at the middle school. Back at the card shop, detectives discovered signs of a struggle and a small amount of blood.

Local, state and national law enforcement officers searched the area for Lisa and eventually found her remains in a wooded area on April 19, 1991. She had been raped and stabbed.

Police questioned people who they believed could have been involved in Lisa’s murder, but they came up empty-handed. In 1993, a woman named Joyce Schara told police her ex-husband, Gary Schara, might have been involved in Lisa’s abduction and killing. Police didn’t arrest him — yet.

The case went cold for years, but the tides shifted in 2016 thanks to DNA technology called phenotyping. Phenotyping takes DNA and creates a digital sketch of a person using information and predictions based on the sample, which was taken from Lisa’s body. Once officials obtained the sketch, they created a narrowed-down list of possible suspects.

Detectives received permission to obtain DNA from people on the list, including Gary Schara. On September 13, 2017, a Massachusetts State Police detective went to Gary’s house, but he wasn’t home. The next day, Gary’s girlfriend went to State Police and said Gary left her notes admitting he raped and killed a woman 25 years prior. The note reportedly said he would be sent to jail for life if he gave them his DNA.

Gary’s car was found at a hospital in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, on September 14, 2017. He left a note on his windshield apologizing to the person who found his body and “any psychological trauma incurred.” He reportedly tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills, but survived.

On September 15, 2017, detectives took Gary’s toothbrush from his house and matched his DNA to a sample lifted from Lisa Ziegert’s crime scene. He was arrested the next day.

Gary was charged with murder, aggravated rape, and kidnapping. He initially pleaded not guilty, but in September 2019, he reversed and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors dropped the kidnapping and rape charges.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Let’s take a look back at the case of a 24-year-old woman who was abducted and killed while innocently doing her job.