Crime & Safety

DNA Proving Helpful in Solving Cases in Virginia

There are more than 350,000 DNA samples in the Virginia Department of Forensic Science's database to help law enforcement agencies solve crimes around the state.

It was DNA from a cigarette butt that led Falls Church police to Robert Montgomery.

Montgomery was one of three men wanted for two robberies in the city in December. Of all the items at the scene that night, the detective came back with the one piece of evidence that closed a case less than a year later.

Falls Church city police Capt. Rick Campbell said he doesn’t know how Montgomery’s DNA ended up in the system, but it helped them close their case.

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According to the FBI, the match of the forensic DNA record against the DNA record in the National DNA Index System database may be used to establish probable cause to obtain an evidentiary DNA sample from the suspect. The law enforcement agency can use this documentation to obtain a court order authorizing the collection of a known biological reference sample from the offender.

“The victim went into detail with the detective about how one of the suspects was smoking,” Campbell said Monday. “The detective went back, found it and sent it off, and we got a hit.”

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Since its inception in 1998, the National DNA Index System has aided in 7,791 criminal cases in Virginia, according to the FBI Website.

The database, according to the FBI, has more than 10 million offender profiles, more than a million arrestee profiles and about 472,000 forensic profiles through January. In the commonwealth, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science Website—which has four labs throughout the state to test various DNA samples—says DNA from their labs have assisted with solving 5,527 burglaries/robberies, 1,137 sex crimes and 610 murders.

There were no statistics available on exactly how many criminal cases in Virginia were solved by DNA evidence.

It’s the tenacity to want to close a case that makes detectives work harder to find more evidence and follow up on leads. Campbell said some of that is taught and the other part is just the attitude of the detective. It’s something Campbell has believed since he says he got the state’s second conviction using DNA in 1990.

Campbell said the suspect in the rape and robbery case is still serving a 90-year sentence.

“DNA testing is constantly expanding in an expanding field,” Campbell said.

Gail Jaspen, chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, said DNA at times is one of the tools used to prosecute people in criminal cases. It has also helped free some inmates in Virginia.

Since 2005, Jaspen said DNA from 950 criminal cases in Virginia were examined overturning the convictions of seven people. The DNA was from cases between 1973 and 1988. The testing was part of a post conviction-testing program, Jaspen said.

The state forensic lab also trains some Virginia police agencies on the proper way to collect evidence from crime scenes. Jaspen said only 24 officers each year get into the nine-week program. She said the better the detectives are trained to collect evidence with possible DNA, the more the lab has to work with.

“We only report DNA results for items that are sent to us,” Jaspen said. “Lots of cases get resolved on evidence other than DNA.”

Because criminals don’t always leave their DNA all over crime scenes, commonwealth's attorney for Arlington County and the city of Falls Church Theo Stamos said there is more to solving crimes than DNA. Stamos, whose office is responsible for prosecuting crimes committed in Arlington County, felonies committed in the city of Falls Church and all felonies and misdemeanors committed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, said having DNA as a resource is helpful in prosecutions.

“It’s tremendously helpful,” Stamos said. “It’s always very helpful to have DNA.”


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