Jan. 6, 1974, slashed in Fitchburg

Ms. Provost, the mother of a 3-year-old boy, was found dead in her bed, her throat slit. Ronald Dame, who had previously dated Ms. Provost was a considered a suspect from the start, but he wasn’t charged until 2006 when DNA evidence linked him to the slaying.

Police had noticed scratches on his face when he was questioned soon after the murder. Skin scrapings from under Ms. Provost’s fingernails were tested decades after she was killed and implicated Mr. Dame.

Fitchburg man gets life in 1974 slaying of young mother

Still maintaining his innocence despite the verdict against him, Ronald C. Dame was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole today for the 1974 murder of Clara J. Provost in Fitchburg.