Jury acquits man of 1992 St. Paul murder

A man has been acquitted in connection to an unsolved St. Paul homicide from 1992.

Thursday, a Ramsey County jury found John Capers not guilty of Annette Seymour’s murder.

Seymour’s body was found by a citizen near Selby and Summit avenues at around 8:30 a.m. on July 14, 1992. That citizen then flagged down police.

RELATED: Man arrested, charged in connection to 1992 St. Paul unsolved homicide

Seymour’s case went cold until 2009 when investigators used advancements in technology to run DNA saved from Seymour’s clothing, which later came back to Capers, whose DNA was in the state’s database from a previous conviction. Two years later, investigators got a new DNA sample from Capers, who denied knowing or ever meeting Seymour.

Prosecutors spent the next several years trying to prove their case against Capers before formally charging him in 2019.

However, on Thursday, jurors found Capers not guilty of both intentional and unintentional murder.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office gave the following statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS:

“While we were hoping for a different outcome, we respect the jury’s decision. Our hearts go out to the victim’s family and friends. We appreciate the hard work that went into bringing this cold case to trial, specifically the Saint Paul Police Department and our prosecution team.”

Ramsey County Attorney’s Office