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Please see our “Did You Know?” section toward the end of this issue.
In South Carolina, a new program was designed to determine if resources should be devoted to the collection and analysis of biological fluids from property crimes. “As part of an effort to improve accessibility of DNA testing for local law enforcement agencies, officials proposed the creation of a regional DNA laboratory to serve law enforcement agencies in the South Carolina Low Country.” In Arkansas the Senate gave final approval for the collection of DNA in certain felony arrest cases.
And the State Senate in Missouri “passed legislation that would excuse men of child-support requirements if they use DNA tests to prove they are not the child’s father.”
In addition to these stories you will find brief summaries of new and ongoing cases involving the use of DNA analysis. Every story is followed by a link to its original source, which you can follow for more details.
In The News
Solving Property Crimes with DNAWhile DNA analysis of biological fluids collected from crime scenes of violence has become a common practice, a few agencies are starting to collect DNA to solve property crimes. Property crime offenders often are serial offenders, and can graduate to more serious crimes. A project using DNA analysis to investigate property crimes in South Carolina is providing local law enforcement with a surprising number of suspect matches to crime scenes.
The South Carolina experience is in keeping with the findings of a study of the effectiveness of DNA forensics in the investigation of property crimes. That study, The DNA Field Experiment: Cost Effectiveness Analysis of the Use of DNA in the Investigation of High-Volume Crimes found that cases with DNA evidence yielded twice as many suspects identified and arrested. Source: www.policeone.com
AR Senate backs DNA collection bill The Arkansas Senate has given final approval to a measure requiring police to collect DNA samples following certain felony arrests. By a 21-5 vote, the Senate yesterday backed a proposal by Rep. Dawn Creekmore of East End that calls for DNA samples to be collected from people arrested on suspicion of capital murder, first-degree murder, kidnapping and first- or second-degree sexual assault. Source: www.ktbs.com
State Senate OKs DNA testing for paternity cases The Senate passed legislation that would excuse men of child-support requirements if they use DNA tests to prove they are not the child’s father. Source: www.news-leader.com
New and Ongoing Stories Involving the Use of DNA Evidence Texas - League City police on Tuesday said they may have a break in a fatal hit-and-run case. Investigators say they’ve lifted DNA from a handwritten apology reportedly left next to the body of Maurice Jones. Jones, 34, was walking along Dickinson Avenue in League City in March when police say a driver hit and killed him. Source: www.khou.com
Oregon - DNA tests and savvy police work led to the arrest Thursday of a woman in connection with four auto thefts in three jurisdictions. Detectives from Happy Valley and Portland Police arrested Kristen Upham, 20, of Portland on multiple counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Happy Valley Detective Gil Millett wouldn't disclose what DNA evidence he collected in two stolen cars from mid-2007 because he didn't want to tip off thieves. Source: www.oregonlive.com
Texas - DNA evidence led Austin police to charge a man with a 2007 murder. Bond for the man, Joseph Darryl Lee, is set at $100,000. Last month, the Department of Public Safety uploaded a DNA sample from Lee that matched evidence from the scene. Source: www.news8austin.com
North Carolina - The Union County Sheriff's Office charged a 22-year-old Monroe woman on Friday with murder in the death of her baby, who was found near a pile of burned trash in February. Erica Denise Kelly also faces a charge of concealing the birth of a child. Investigators linked Kelly to the baby through DNA evidence. The sheriff said they did extensive DNA testing, interviewed numerous witnesses and held information checkpoints. Source: www.wral.com
Texas - A man was convicted Thursday of a medical student's 1982 rape and murder, a case that was cold for 25 years until a nationwide DNA database linked evidence to a Florida prison inmate. Jurors deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before convicting Lucky Lamon Odom of capital murder in the slaying of Kathryn Munroe, 23, whose body was found at an elementary school near her duplex. Source: www.chron.com
Iowa - The judge in a Linn County sexual assault case has ruled that test results of DNA evidence lost in last year's floods will be admissible in court. Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge David Remley ruled Wednesday the pair of underwear and penile swab taken from Bruce Braggs, charged with second-degree sexual abuse and first-degree burglary, wasn't intentionally destroyed to deprive the defense of evidence. The evidence is a key part in the case against Braggs. He's accused of breaking into a home in 2007 and assaulting a 19-year-old woman. Source: www.kttc.com
Arizona - A 38-year-old Tucson man was arrested Monday in connection with the sexual assault of a University of Arizona student who was attacked in her residence hall two years ago. Deguan Lamar Lee was connected to the case through DNA evidence collected from the scene. He is now facing charges of sexual assault, aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery, University of Arizona police said. Source: www.azstarnet.com
Maryland - DNA evidence helped place a man behind bars in Frederick County. Source: your4state.com
Florida -The detectives at a Bird Key murder scene collected cigarette butts left around the body, but in 1978, the only hope was to somehow find a suspect who smoked the same brand. Last week, though, the saliva on those cigarettes provided the DNA match that makes Sarasota police so sure they have arrested the man who killed well-known Sarasota businessman John Allaman Jr., 54. Detectives released details Monday about how they used modern forensic techniques to link Kenneth P. Auringer, a 60-year-old drifter living in a California mobile home park, to the 30-year-old murder. Source: www.heraldtribune.com
Washington - FBI agents tracked down a bank robbery suspect in Texas after officers found DNA on sunglasses the robber left near the scene of the 2006 crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Eric Hawkins, 39, pleaded not guilty on Monday in connection with the robbery of a Key Bank branch in Bremerton on April 20, 2006. Source: www.kirotv.com
Wisconsin - Curtis Forbes officially was charged with first-degree murder Monday in the 1980 death of Marilyn McIntyre of Columbus. Forbes, 51, was a friend of the family. He was arrested last week after prosecutors said DNA evidence connected him to McIntyre's death in March 1980. Her husband found the 18-year-old stabbed, beaten and strangled in their Columbus home the morning of March 11, 1980. Source: www.wiscnews.com
Florida - It was mid-July 2007 when 20-year-old Veronica Miles was discovered strangled to death with a bed sheet in a Belle Glade hotel room. Family members had nearly given up hope that Miles' killer would be caught. But about three months ago they learned that DNA evidence was proving helpful in the investigation. Marvin Jenkins, 36, of Belle Glade, had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Source: www.palmbeachpost.com
New Jersey - Detectives used DNA evidence to arrest a city man suspected of burglarizing seven local businesses over a seven-week period last fall, and they say he could be responsible for dozens more. Arturo Cabrera, 38, is charged with seven counts of burglary and theft. The rash of burglaries started Aug. 2 and ended Sept. 10, Detective Lt. Tom Ulrich said Friday. None of the stolen property was recovered, police said. Police are waiting for additional results from DNA tests that could tie Cabrera to seven more burglaries around Vineland, Ulrich said. Ulrich would not say what type of DNA evidence was left at the crime scenes. Source: www.thedailyjournal.com
New Jersey - A Newark man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a college student in a campus women's bathroom last year. Jerome Singletary will serve at least 81/2 years of a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault and burglary. Source: www.dailyrecord.com
Indiana - Indianapolis police say they identified a suspect in the 2007 killing of a woman at her Broad Ripple neighborhood home through a match in a nationwide DNA database. Source: archives.chicagotribune.com
Pennsylvania - Police in south-central Pennsylvania say a suspect in a 1999 robbery and sexual assault is jailed in Florida thanks to a DNA database. The victim of the assault in Lancaster, Pa., was attacked from behind and never saw her attacker's face. Police had few leads, but they kept DNA evidence on file. A 31-year-old man was recently arrested in Osceola County, Fla., on similar charges. Authorities there entered his DNA into a database and it matched the evidence in the Lancaster attack. He's to be extradited to Pennsylvania. Source: www.miamiherald.com
International UK - DNA evidence suggests a man accused of raping and murdering a woman "forcibly damaged" her clothing, a court heard yesterday. The body of sales consultant Moira Jones, 40, was found in Glasgow lying face down with her clothes torn by a ranger in Queens Park on May 29 last year. Marek Harcar, 33, a Slovakian, denies forcing her into the park, raping and murdering her. Source: news.scotsman.com
Germany - German investigators' search for a mysterious suspected killer has ended with an embarrassing discovery: identical DNA traces common to dozens of crime scenes stemmed from contaminated cotton swabs. The DNA had been found at the scenes of about 40 crimes over recent years in Germany, Austria and France, ranging from restaurant break-ins to the shooting of a policewoman. The common DNA prompted police to search for a woman German media called the "phantom killer."
However, officials said Friday they had determined that the DNA came from an innocent woman at an unidentified Bavarian packaging company involved in producing the cotton swabs used to collect evidence. Source: www.google.com
Did you know?
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