They Almost Got Away With It: How DNA & Forensic Science Caught 7 Notorious Killers

They Almost Got Away With It:

How DNA & Forensic Science

Caught 7 Notorious Killers

By: John Summit

#6 in the True Crime Series

Copyright © 2014 – All Rights Reserved

D & D Publishing

Table of Contents

Legal Information

Introduction

Chester Turner

Matthew Steven Johnson

Isidro Ponce

Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer

Lonnie Franklin: The Grim Sleeper

Walter Ellis: The Northside Strangler

Dennis Rader: The BTK Killer

Conclusion

Legal Information

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Introduction

Today, most of us are familiar with the concept of Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid or more commonly referred to as DNA, and we know that it is an invaluable tool in capturing criminals in various realms. Thanks to the influx in popularity of forensic and crime-based television shows such as CSI, Bones and Criminal Minds, viewers of these ultra-popular television dramas are afforded a bird’s eye view and explanation of how the developments and advancements in DNA have contributed to law enforcement identifying and capturing criminals at a staggering rate. Not only can DNA databases identify the culprit of recent or ongoing crimes, but can help solve decades-old cold cases as well.

While the assumption, particularly for younger viewers of such shows is that DNA has been around forever, the truth is that DNA analytics and its use in crime solving is a fairly new concept and has only recently reached the advanced state that it is in today. DNA evidence still has a long way to go and new testing, diagnostics and its other uses have still only scratched the surface. Almost daily, the scientific community continues to make headway in how they can utilize DNA evidence in solving illegal activity.

The purpose of this book is to focus on how DNA and its advances have better enabled law enforcement to identify suspects and eventually lead to their arrests and convictions. We will thoroughly examine the origins of DNA and how the analysis and storage of evidence has led police departments to capturing some of the most violent, abhorrent criminals in the world, where had it not been for DNA they may have gone free and continued on their animalistic path, destroying and taking the lives of perhaps countless more victims.

Origins of DNA

DNA was first discovered by a German biochemist student, Johann Frederich Miescher, in 1868. However, it wasn’t until the early 1950s that the molecule chain was recognized to contain genetic materials.

Over the decades, various scientists and doctors explored the molecule in relation to infections, viruses and bacteria. However, it was three gentlemen, James Watson, an American geneticist, Francis Crick, an English physicist, and Rosalind Franklin, a British biophysicist who can truly be credited with specific advancements in DNA. It is Franklin, whose work on X-ray diffraction images of DNA, wholly contributed to the discovery of DNA structure and its unique double helix.

Crime investigation was revolutionized not only by the discovery of DNA, but in the manner in which it has been used in crime investigations. Until recently, the technologies used in DNA sampling had been in its infancy.

DNA profiling was first used in England in 1986, but only in a very limited and little understood capacity. DNA ‘fingerprinting’ was developed in England by Sir Alec Jeffreys and it was at that time that law enforcement agencies first became familiar with the concept, and realized that evidence collection techniques must evolve with the potential of this new technology. Local police departments in England first used DNA to help solve a string of crimes in Leicestershire.

In fact, the first documented murder conviction using DNA evidence occurred in 1988 during the trial of Colin Pitchfork, who was found guilty of murdering two school aged girls, Lynda Mann (1983) and Dawn Ashworth (1986), both who were 15 years of age in Narborough, Leicestershire. Investigators collected semen samples from both victims and used DNA technology to identify the assailant.

The first use of DNA forensics and analysis in the U.S. occurred in 1987, in the sexual assault case involving Tommie Lee Edwards, who was accused of beating and raping his victim. However, during his trial the judge refused to permit the results to be used in court, fearing that the jury would not possibly be able to understand the technology involved. The case ended in a mistrial. Several months later, Edwards was arrested and placed on trial for yet another assault and this time the judge allowed the DNA ‘fingerprinting’ evidence to be included. The prosecutor and expert witnesses kept the technology as simple as possible; they stated that the DNA sample taken from Edwards when compared to the DNA sample from the victim would match one in ten billion individuals. Edwards was ultimately convicted.

Even though DNA was a vastly unknown and foreign concept to most individuals, including those in law enforcement in the late 1980s, it is interesting that the first investigation that utilized DNA evidence didn't turn out exactly as planned.

By the early 1990s, the term DNA had become more prevalent within the scientific and judicial systems, though not without its own set of complexities and valid concerns. The headway being made in DNA technology was both critical and exciting; however, it posed as many problems as it did possible solutions.

On a large scale, the scientists and researchers were beginning to comprehend what these advances meant to the communities and how DNA could contribute to solving crime in an effective way. However, the ability for the common person without a scientific background to grasp the concepts of DNA, to include jurors, law officials and the general community at large, proved to be challenging.

Because this new tool was available, it was easy to ascertain why the judicial system and scientists themselves would want to introduce such commodities to jurors; however, expecting the common juror to understand such scientifically based information and evidence during trials would not be an easy feat. Asking them to comprehend and believe in this new technology was much like asking a juror of a century or two ago to believe that infection was caused by an invisible thing called bacteria, or that a condition called ‘wasting away’ was actually caused by abnormally developing cellular masses that we call cancer today.

Suddenly, trials included key terms such as Mitochondrial DNA, Nuclear DNA, and CODIS, an electronic database of DNA profiles. While such terms were recognized by researchers and scientists, jurors began hearing them and were often