Minn. Man Cleared Of 1992 Conn. Slaying

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) -- A former Connecticut man charged last year with the 1992 strangulation of a Bethel man found dead in his home has been acquitted.

The Danbury News Times reports that 49-year-old Donald Krauth, who now lives in Barnesville, Minn., was cleared Wednesday by a three-judge panel of the death of 58-year-old Charles Cromwell.

The judges said the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Krauth was the killer.

Police reopened their investigation in 2009 after finding Krauth's DNA on Cromwell's shirt, and arrested the former New Milford man last year.

Defense lawyers said Cromwell had hired Krauth to clean out his basement days before the killing, and that's likely how his DNA ended up on the shirt. They also said the police investigation was sloppy, and witnesses were unreliable.

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