DNA evidence in Texas ruled out a major lead in the case of a fugitive Australian man accused of killing his pregnant wife and their three children 40 years ago.

Victoria state police said that detectives used DNA from a relative of Elmer Crawford to determine that an unidentified male who died in Texas in 2005 was not the suspected murderer.

Facial recognition experts concluded earlier this year that the man could be Crawford.

Crawford disappeared in July 1970.

A 1971 inquest in Australia found Crawford killed his family in their Melbourne home. He would be 81 if he were still alive.

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