|
Please see our “Did You Know?” section toward the end of this issue. As forensic scientists in Virginia review DNA evidence from existing criminal files as part of an ongoing project, there is no established method for which cases will get a second look and why. In Indiana, the city of Beech Grove will be the first in the nation to use a new method of "touch" DNA collection. The technology allows police to collect DNA from surfaces that someone may have touched, leaving behind skin cells, oils or perspiration. Following these stories you will find new and ongoing cases involving the use of DNA evidence.
As forensic scientists sift through old DNA evidence from thousands of criminal files, it's unclear who is deciding which cases deserve a second look and why. Former Gov. Mark Warner ordered a thorough review in 2005 after DNA evidence led to the exonerations of five men. The crucial question is who decides what should be treated as exculpatory evidence. Someone must examine the DNA tests and review the facts of the crime and determine how those two sets of information fit together. Source: The Virginian-Pilot Beech Grove is First in Nation to Use New DNA Technology As the first city in the nation to serve as a pilot site to use a new method of “touch” DNA collection, the City of Beech Grove announced its partnership with Indianapolis-based Forensic ID. The Beech Grove Police Department, will utilize Forensic ID’s new device in the collection of DNA evidence at crime scenes. The self-contained device gathers DNA left after someone touches an object or surface, leaving behind skin cells, oils or perspiration. In the case of use by narcotics agents, DNA can be collected from a plastic bag of confiscated drugs, for example. Kits will be available, allowing police/narcotics officers, who often are first on the scene, to swab the “touch” or “contact” DNA into a cylinder type device for later analysis. The innovative element of the Forensic ID device is that, unlike traditional DNA collection, it eliminates the drying process, thereby simplifying and expediting the analysis of evidence from a crime. Source: Inside INdiana Business New and Ongoing Stories Involving the Use of DNA Evidence DNA from suspects Tommy Lee Poindexter and Nathan Walker Jr. was found on the woman’s dress, according to an analysis by the Palm Beach County Crime Laboratory, released in documents Thursday. DNA from Avion Lawson also was found on a condom left at the scene, according to the documents. Source: Associated Press Arkansas - Advanced DNA testing and other strong scientific evidence – combined with additional evidence from several different witnesses and experts – proves that Damien Echols was wrongfully convicted of murdering three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, according to legal papers filed in federal court. The 200 page motion filed by attorneys for Echols, who has been on death row in Arkansas for more than a decade, says that new evidence proves Echols’ innocence – and implicates Terry Hobbs, the step-father of one of the victims. Source: ABC 24 New York - DNA forensic evidence proved to be a key element in the apprehension of two men suspected of burglary and rape. Stephen R. Ohl, 24, appeared in court over charges of predatory sexual assault, first degree burglary, first degree rape, first degree robbery, first degree criminal sexual act, first degree criminal use of a firearm and petit larceny. Jonathan “Joe” Elwood, 29, was not in court and has also been identified as a coconspirator by police. He is facing identical charges. Source: The Evening Sun California - Based on new DNA evidence, authorities arrested two men on suspicion that they killed a Watsonville man a year ago. The two men are suspected of fighting, then fatally stabbing Alejandro Santiago, 32, around 7 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2006, as Santiago, his pregnant wife and brother walked home. Eduardo Valdivias Rodriguez, 27, and Jose Angel Hernandez, 28, will be charged with murder, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel Florida - A can of cola reportedly helped lead investigators to a suspect in a string of Bay County robberies. Deputies arrested and charged Travis Pacheco, 18, with burglary of a conveyance after matching DNA allegedly was found at the scene of one of the crimes. Pacheco is accused of breaking into 28 recreational vehicles over a two-day period in December 2005, according to a Bay County Sheriff’s Office news release. Source: Northwest Florida Daily News Colorado - For three decades, former Englewood homicide Detective Warren Rahn believed he knew who had raped, strangled and suffocated a 57-year- old woman in her bed. But a set of circumstances, including the loss of key evidence, prevented Roy Arnold Adkins' arrest until this year. In 1976 there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Adkins. Englewood Detective Thomas Scheider reopened the case in 1992 because advancements in DNA testing made solving it more likely. But authorities could not find the semen evidence that was found during the initial investigation. In December 2005 Englewood Detective R.E. Garrett learned that lab technicians had created slide samples of the evidence in 1989 that could still be retested. When new DNA tests were performed, investigators found a match with Adkins' DNA, the court record says. The case is pending in Arapahoe County District Court. Source: The Denver Post Massachusetts - Police said a man who broke into a Methuen home and severely beat an 86-year-old man left something behind that helped identify him. Blood samples taken from a cellar window and door of a house on Taylor Street were sent to the state police lab where investigators matched the DNA to that of a Haverhill man with a criminal record. Keith Haggar, 36 was arrested Wednesday. Source: The Eagle Tribune California - Three human hairs collected and preserved from a bedroom where a Huntington Beach woman was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled more than two decades ago led to the arrest of a Canadian man. The hairs were examined for DNA earlier this year by the Orange County Sheriff's Crime Lab and matched to Gerald Su Go, 51, according to an affidavit signed by Huntington Beach cold case Det. Michael Reilly. Source: Orange County Register Missouri - A DNA hit has led authorities to charge Gregg A. Maples, 38, with raping his next-door neighbor in Kansas City 13 years ago. The Kansas City Police Department compared DNA from the victim’s clothes with that of criminals, and hit on Maples. Source: The Kansas City Star Ohio - A man already serving a life sentence for murder has received a second life term after pleading guilty to a 1999 killing in Columbus. Kenneth Tucker entered his plea yesterday in the death of Jana Marie Eyster, a woman he had met in a bar. The crime went unsolved until 2004, when a crime lab was able to match DNA taken from a condom at Eyster's apartment to Tucker. Source: WTOL CBS 11 New York - A 32-year-old murder case from Southern Onondaga County is now closed. Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick announced late Monday morning DNA has conclusively linked a Georgia death row inmate to the 1975 rape and strangulation of an elementary school teacher. Carlton Gary is expected to be executed in Georgia within the next year for a series of murders in that state. The DA says Gary lived in Onondaga County in 1975, when Marion Fisher was raped and murdered. Source: WSYR ABC 9 Missouri - Seven years ago, a stranger dragged a 14-year-old girl off a Kansas City street and raped her on the back porch of a vacant house. This week, Jackson County prosecutors charged Robert A. Johnson, 45, of Kansas City with statutory rape and forcible rape in the case. A sample of his DNA matched evidence gathered from the victim, prosecutors said. Source: The Kansas City Star The DNA Informant is a free bi-weekly email newsletter, published by DNA Labs International. DNA Labs International is a private, ISO 17025 Accredited, Forensic Serology and DNA Identity Testing Laboratory, founded in 2004 by a Board Certified Fellow in Molecular Biology with over two decades of experience in Forensic Serology and DNA Analysis in United States Crime Labs. Our primary mission is to help our clients identify criminals within their jurisdiction by providing timely, accurate and cost effective DNA testing results. To do this we created an organization based on industry best practices from over 20 State Crime Labs around the United States. We are located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale airport. DNA Labs International’s services are now available for individual cases and outsourcing contracts. Please keep us in mind as you start to consider your outsourcing needs, regular and rush cases and DNA case review. Did you know? One profiling method popular with forensic experts uses short tandem repeats (STRs are short identical sequences of DNA found in specific regions of a chromosome) to compare samples of DNA from a crime scene to DNA from a suspect or victim. Commercial PCR systems that amplify STRs work best if the amount of DNA—measured in nanograms per microliter of solution—fed into the system is within a narrow range. Too concentrated a solution overwhelms the detection apparatus; too dilute yields poor results or none at all. DNA quantitation—assessing the amount of DNA present in a crime scene sample—is the necessary precursor to making a suitable solution for profiling. A widely used method to achieve this is quantitative PCR (qPCR); however, current commercial qPCR kits may produce varying values for the DNA concentrations in the kit’s reference samples, rendering these standards less reliable for assaying the quantity of extracted evidential DNA. SRM 2372 can be used by qPCR manufacturers to calibrate their systems in the factory so that measurements made with the kits in forensic laboratories are consistently accurate. The SRM contains samples of human genomic DNA from three sources—an individual male, multiple female donors and a mix of male and female donors. Each sample has been prepared to yield an optical density (OD) of 1.0 on a spectrophotometer when examined using a 260-nanometer wavelength of light. Scientists have determined that for a solution of double-stranded DNA, an OD of 1.0 at 260 nanometers corresponds to 50 micrograms of DNA per milliliter of solution. More information about SRM 2372, including purchase data, may be found at National Institute of Standards and Technology Source: Newswise Editor: Karen Daurie |
