New DNA Database for Somali Pirates

New DNA Database will catalogue pirates

The forum, the Contact Group on Piracy, in charge with countering pirates off the coast of Somalia will set up a new DNA database to catalogue these criminals. The database will be set up in 2012. The forum has 480 pirate DNA profiles to date.

Read more here.

Iowa Cold Case Unit- Have unmatched profiles, lack funding

Iowa's two person Cold Case Unit has been working under a federal grant since 2009 to solve cases going back to the 1960s.

Since that time, the unit collected data on 150 unsolved cases going back to the 1960s. The investigators prioritized 50 of them and conducted DNA analysis on 2,018 pieces of evidence.  They have created DNA profiles in 23 of these cases, checked 11 against the database, and received 2 hits.

State officials were denied the federal grant in 2010; the unit will lose one agent.


Read more: http://www.globegazette.com/news/article_d99154ce-9fa9-11e0-a3e3-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1QWFjNZEA

Washington DC area murder 1984- new DNA Evidence

Catherine Fuller, a mother of six, was killed in 1984 by a mob of young people. Of 17 young people arrested, 13 were charged in her death, with 11 being convicted or pleading guilty. Now the Innocence Project is calling for testing of evidence discovered in 2010 in a police storage facility.

"Evidence uncovered by the Innocence Project persuaded D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg to schedule hearings for October. He also ordered post-conviction DNA testing of physical evidence — swabs taken from the victim’s body, hairs, clothing and a metal pipe that may have been used in the attack — that was discovered in 2010 as police prepared to move to a new storage facility."

Read more here.

*Special thanks to A.V. for finding this article!

Potomac rapist may be back

The Potamac rapist operated in the 1990's in the DC area. In 2009, DNA linked him to the murder of a biochemistry student. 
"In the Potomac Rapist, detectives have painted a chilling portrait of a skilled burglar who, despite the populated communities he targeted, stalked his victims for days before breaking into their homes and waiting for them. As his perverse appetites grew, he became more brazen. And as news spread, his attacks seemed to become more violent and theatrical. He would try to engage his victims in a perverse form of pillow talk, asking them about their own previous sexual encounters while he raped them."

• The first rape occurred in May 1991 in a new housing development in North Potomac.
• In November 1991, he attacked an anesthesiologist in Bethesda, Maryland, gaining entrance through a second-floor window and hiding until she came home.
• A month later, he returned again to the North Potomac site and attacked another woman whose husband was away on a business trip.
• A month later and a block away from the last attack, he barged into the basement apartment of a live-in housekeeper less than 20 minutes after her employers left to go to a movie. But this time, the victim fought back. His rape attempt was foiled, but he viciously beat her with a portable stereo before fleeing.
• The attacks abruptly ended until 1994. Then, he attacked a mother of two who lived near a new housing development.
• After another lengthy break he resurfaced again in February 1997 in a middle-class suburb of Montgomery County and attacked a 19-year-old in the kitchen of her townhouse. Before he left, he snatched a $100 bill from her birthday card.
• Nine months later, the Potomac Rapist assaulted his last victim in Maryland, and eight months after that, he killed Mirzayan, a newly married intern with a promising future in biochemistry.

Read The Daily Beast Article.

Santa Fe: Suspect excluded with DNA

Police in Santa Fe say DNA testing has excluded their suspect in the rape and murder cases of  Susan Laporte and Maria Padilla in 1985.

DNA confirms that Luna did not kill 2 women in New Mexico.

Police said In 1987 Kenneth Ray Luna confessed to Utah authorities that he'd raped and killed women in New Mexico. Luna drew up a map that pinpointed where he had dumped the body of one of the victim’s. It led detectives to the outskirts of Santa Fe County. Police said the woman, believed to be a third victim, had been raped and strangled to death.
Luna was extradited back to New Mexico. However, before he could step foot inside a courtroom the suspected killer hanged himself inside his jail cell.

Police posthumously tested Luna's DNA. The DNA test excluded him from the murders. 

For more information click: here.

Brooklyn Serial Rapist- DNA status unknown

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN (WPIX)—

Cops have released a sketch of a serial rapist on Monday who has preyed on at least four women in Sunset Park, Brooklyn since March 2011.
The status of DNA in the case is unknown.

Read more here.

Ill. Defense Attorneys push for Familial

NBC Chicago reports that Juan Rivera, a convicted murderer, and his defense team are pushing for Familial DNA testing in his case.
The AG of Ill. says the privacy concerns of familial are outweighed by familial's ability to catch criminals.

Read the NBC Chicago Report.

Rivera is in prison for the murder of Holly Staker.