Brian Lorenz Convicted in Third Trial for 1993 Murder

A jury in Erie County Court convicted Brian Scott Lorenz, 56, on Friday of murdering Deborah Meindl in her Tonawanda home near Buffalo in 1993, marking the end of his third trial in a case that has spanned more than three decades.

Meindl, a 33-year-old nursing student and mother of two, was found dead in her dining room on February 22, 1993, after being stabbed multiple times, strangled and handcuffed during what investigators described as a home burglary. Her 10-year-old daughter discovered the body upon returning from school. Lorenz, along with James Pugh, was first convicted of the killing in 1994 based largely on Lorenz's confession while he was under arrest for an unrelated crime in Iowa. In that statement, Lorenz implicated Pugh, though both men maintained their innocence, and Lorenz later recanted, claiming the confession was false.

The convictions were overturned in 2023 following new DNA testing conducted in 2018, which found no genetic material from Lorenz or Pugh at the crime scene, including on the knife used in the attack. A judge also ruled that prosecutors had withheld evidence that could have benefited the defense. In December, authorities dropped charges against...