Restraints

Homicide involving a male victim, his spouse and two male conspirators. Victim's legs were tied with a piece of cloth.  He was transported to a cliff, placed in the driver's seat of the car and sent plunging into a ravine.  Suspicions regarding the alleged accident were raised when the legs of the victim were found to be restrained.

There was a significant amount of victim blood that complicated the collection of DNA material.  Six DNA collection efforts were made using the cutting method, but no meaningful results were obtained.

The areas of the restraint material that did not have victim blood were processed with the M-Vac™ wet-vacuum collection system.  The liquid was concentrated using a 0.45 micrometer filter apparatus.

The evidence filter was processed using a modified Chelex extraction method and quantitated using the Quantifiler Duo assay.  The extracted DNA was amplified with Life Technologies AmpFℓSTR^® Identifiler^® Plus PCR Amplification Kit.

A high quality DNA mixture was obtained.  DNA analysis resulted in positive identification of the spouse and it brought into question two other male suspects with peaks of 500 rfu.  The suspect profiles generated by the M-Vac™ System were part of the evidence used to close the case.  Click here for a full summary.

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