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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (991)	10/31/2001 10:12:16 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 10/30/01 - Hartford Courant: DNA Test Was Put Off In Yale Student's Killing DNA Test Was Put Off In Yale Student's Killing October 30, 2001 By GARY LIBOW, Courant Staff Writer NEW HAVEN -- Fingernail scrapings taken from the body of slain Yale student Suzanne Jovin were not immediately tested for DNA content, the New Haven state's attorney said Monday. Michael Dearington declined to disclose when an unidentified male's DNA located under Jovin's fingernails was harvested. But he stated that forensic tests on the scrapings did not take place right away as investigators focused on apprehending the person who killed the 21-year-old senior Dec. 4, 1998. "The DNA was located in the fingernail scraping, which were not immediately tested for DNA," Dearington said. On Friday, five weeks shy of the third anniversary of Jovin's killing, Dearington announced that investigators would be asking colleagues, friends and acquaintances of Jovin to provide voluntary DNA samples. Dearington disclosed last week that the DNA sample taken from Jovin's left hand is not from her thesis adviser, James van De Velde, the only suspect named by the New Haven Police Department in the slaying. Jovin was found stabbed to death in the East Rock neighborhood, about 2 miles from campus. The investigation has reportedly been stymied from a lack of eyewitnesses and forensic evidence. Elaine Pagliaro, assistant director of the State Police Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Meriden, said the technology that isolated the male DNA from blood under Jovin's nails was not available in Connecticut at the time of her death. However, the Short Tandem Repeats tests were immediately available in several other forensic labs in the nation, including the FBI lab, Pagliaro said. The technology was not available in Connecticut until sometime in 1999, she said. "It's the standard testing for DNA analysis at the present time in the state of Connecticut," Pagliaro said. All tests results are read by two scientists in the state police facility, she said. The DNA was gleaned in the Meriden lab, but Dearington said scientists were unable to tell the nature of the cellular material detected, in large part because the "questioned" DNA was mixed with a much greater quantity of Jovin's own blood. While declining to comment on the Jovin investigation, Pagliaro said that if there is such a mixture, it is impossible to identify the specific extracted DNA source. Possibilities include blood, body fluids and skin. Dearington said he is unsure whether the extracted DNA is from the assailant. He said that investigators have begun taking voluntary DNA samples from those who had a legitimate reason to be in contact with the victim. Samples have already been taken from all male police officers who had access to Jovin's body, from responding emergency medical technicians to the medical examiner, and from all but one fire department personnel who was at to the crime scene. None of those samples matched, he reported. "It's being pursued diligently and it's a matter of locating the individuals," Dearington said of the next phase of DNA collection and testing. The sampling will not require anyone to give blood. Samples will be taken with a toothbrush-like swab which is softly scrapped on the inside of a person's mouth. The state's attorney said there is no intriguing reason why he issued the written statement Friday. Under the assumption the DNA collection phase of the investigation became public, Dearington explained the press release was issued to prevent any misunderstanding or misinformation "as to what we are doing." ctnow.com is Copyright © 2001 by The Hartford Courant ctnow.com