Authorities consider they solved a 30-year-old homicide after DNA proof led them to a Mississippi man.
Warren Luther Alexander, 71, was arrested and charged on Tuesday for the dying of Nona Stamey Cobb, who was discovered on the facet of Interstate 77 in North Carolina on the morning of July 7, 1992, the Surry County Sheriff's Workplace shared in a Fb put up.
Developments in DNA testing and forensic family tree have been utilized by investigators and regulation enforcement officers to resolve chilly instances across the nation. Police have labored with labs which have been in a position to match decades-old proof to new suspects who might have by no means been discovered, together with within the case of Cobb's homicide.
The final time Cobb was final seen alive was the evening earlier than when she was getting right into a truck with a person, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The Surry County Sheriff's Workplace did not have any suspects till three years after Cobb's homicide.
Police interviewed a trucker named Sean Patrick Globe, who denied killing her. Finally, semen discovered on Cobb's physique didn't match Globe's DNA, per the newspaper.
The case remained chilly and police had no suspects. In April 2021, particular brokers with the previous Case Investigation Unit of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and detectives with the Surry County Sheriff's Workplace re-examined the bodily proof in Cobb's homicide case, together with DNA.
Authorities labored with Dr. Coleen Fitzpatrick, the founding father of Identifiers Worldwide LLC, an organization that makes a speciality of forensic genetic family tree, to re-test the DNA. After the outcomes got here again, brokers had been in a position to determine Alexander as a attainable suspect in Cobb's homicide, mentioned the Surry County Sheriff's Workplace.
Alexander was arrested in Diamondhead, Mississippi, and is being held in Hancock County Jail awaiting extradition again to North Carolina. Police mentioned that is an ongoing investigation and are wanting into whether or not there are any extra attainable victims.
Newsweek reached out to Surry County Sheriff's Workplace and Hancock County Sheriff's Workplace for remark.
Surry County Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt mentioned that a number of law-enforcement businesses assisted in the course of the investigation of Cobb's homicide, together with SBI Chilly Case Investigation Unit; SBI's Hickory District Workplace; NC State Crime Laboratory; Cleveland County Sheriff's Workplace; Indiana State Police; Mississippi Bureau of Investigation; Hancock County Sheriff's Workplace; Diamondhead Police Division; and the FBI Gulfport Workplace.
Police nationwide have used assist from family tree consultants and superior DNA testing to resolve chilly instances. Not too long ago, the 50-year-old homicide case of a 9-year-old woman in Pennsylvania was solved with the assistance of a family tree knowledgeable.
Moreover, an Arizona sheriff's workplace was in a position to determine a 4-year-old woman solely often known as "Little Miss No person" on account of scientific developments of DNA matching.
Replace 3/17/22, 11:01 a.m. ET: This text was up to date with extra info.
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