Girl Scout cold case gets underway

Hi, I live in Calgary Alberta. This morning I discovered that the channel carrying "In Session" has been cancelled by Star Choice/ Shaw, our satelite TV provider, as of today. This is such a disappointment because it was my favorite program to start my day with.
Is there some other way I can get live coverage of the court cases you air?
Can you in influence the satelite carriers?

Thank you
Rachel

"...Barrett, who faces live in prison if convicted..."

Great googly moogly, proof read your stories!

Thank Goodness, there is FINALLY, someone to be held accountable these 2 terrible deaths. DNA doesn't lie, no matter WHAT!
It only took 30 years, but Finally these cases will be solved, and perhaps families will finally have some peace.

I really do'nt see how this black man could be all up in an all white neighborhood, murder a child, place her in a garage; a white person's garage, then leave the community and never be seen by anyone.

Why was it not important to find the owner of the semen .
Was all the men / males, close to this child tested .

" child missing 33 days found in neighbors unused garage "
No one ever smelled anything ?

Since it was the dead of Winter ...... the smell wouldn't have been that noticeable outside the bldg, unlike it would be in the Summer.

It doesn't have to do with race.. black man being in a white neighborhood that doesn't have anything to do with.. people always try to bring race into everything. I think he is guilty if they have his DNA.. and he is linked to another cold case I mean seriously..HE IS GUILTY

Well, nobody was tested because DNA technology was practically non-existent in the 1970s. Also, skin color and neighborhoods have nothing to do with it, DNA just does not lie.

"A DNA sample taken during the investigation of the Des Prez homicide subsequently linked Barrett to the Trimble murder."

AND

"Barrett’s attorney claims that the evidence in this case strongly suggests that someone else actually committed the Trimble murder."
Uh...HUH?!

i cannot believe they finally found the murderer after so many years...well at least the little girl can rest in peace no that the police have finally found her killer...

THERE HAS BEEN NO TRIAL SO JE IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!!!!! And did you not read "Barrett’s attorney claims that the evidence in this case strongly suggests that someone else actually committed the Trimble murder."

Thanks!!!!!

Ok, correction, HE is innocent until PROVEN guilty! Thanks

Of course Barrett's attouney is going to say that evidence in the case strongly suggests someone else committed teh murder. that's his job.

Seems like pretty strong "gotcha" though if they have his DNA on the duct tape used to gag and bind this little girl though.

You're saying that the person that put that duct tape on her didn't rape her, strangle her and then try to hide her body? You wouldn't put duct tape on a person unless you meant to harm and/or kill them. Even though a person is innocent until proven guilty, most people don't seem to actually take that to heart.

Remember, DNA is not 100%, could be a family member with similar DNA, but it is most likely him or he was there!

The mother's testimony was heartbreaking. I hope this brings her justice for the loss of her daughter.
I was 9 years old in 1975 and I, too sold girl scout cookies. My sisters and I would go door to door as Marcia did. How dangerous it was....we had no idea back then!

Rachel.. cnn.com shows it live stream on the internet. Hope that helps (they are in lunch break right now).

"Remember, DNA is not 100%, could be a family member with similar DNA, but it is most likely him or he was there!"

Actually, DNA is 100%. I still don't understand the hesitation to accept scientifically proven methods. If his DNA was there, then he was there. Also, why does race always play a factor and usually when it is a black person who is accused? It wouldn't matter if he was white, black or any color; if he did this, he deserves the maximum punishment allowed by law. It still won't be enough for this crime though.

I have been watching the trial this morning and i haven't heard that it was an all white neighborhood? May have been and as far as the smelling of the decay, it was in February and March and under an open garage. It was probaby cold enough that the body's decaying was slower than it would be in 90 degree weather. They just had the Dr. in forensic's that did the autopsy on the stand and he explained alot about why the body was in such good shape. He really feels that the DNA evidence that was gathered during the autopsy is absolute proof of who the murderer is. Stay tuned.

the point of race is this instance is that 30 years ago in an all white neighborhood he would have stood out.. because in the 60's he would not have been able to live in that neighborhood. he could have of course worked for someone in the neighborhood so he might have been a fixture so to speak someone they saw every day, which would have also made it easy for him to be the person who did do the crime.

The positive DNA match in this case is just that. A POSITIVE result makes irrelevant any contamination of the samples and such defense arguments meaningless.

I'm not claiming the race card, just stating the truth. At the time of this murder, the only black people that would have been in this neighborhood had to have a reason to have been there. I think most comments being made here are based on the present not the past. I remember when this took place, they were looking for a white male. If there was a black man within 20 miles of that place, believe me rather he did it or not. He would have been pinned for this crime. We live in the South, which has come a long way. But back then we had not even begun. I don't know if he committed this crime or not. I just don't see how they can honestly convict this man for THIS MURDER.

DNA is almost 100% family members are different. They may have similar alleles but not just the same.

I live outside of Nashville and was the same age as Marcia was when she disappeared. This was a haunting case, especially for the so-called "Bible Belt". My mother was terrified at that time for me to even go outside by myself.

However, during this time, I strongly recall everyone having a suspicion about the mother. She never seemed to show any emotion when talking about the case. The one thing that I have not seen them say, and maybe it is no big deal now 33 years later, is that the mother predicted that her daughter's body would be found on Easter Sunday and it was. Everyone was for sure that the mother killed her.

No one saw a black male in the all white 1975 era neighborhood? Would have been conspicuous back then. How did defendent know about the near-by "unused" garage? Thats something residents of the area would know about. Defendents semen on the clothes? Planted? Cross-contamination in pre-dna era? Bragging killer(s) tell defendent of crime and where to see the body?...questions: any connection between garage owner and defendent? any evidence defendent ever in neighboorhood before? defendent pre-mature ejaculator in prior rape case? did searchers ever move the debris on top of bags where body found during prior searches?

watching mrs trimble on the stand just broke my heart. she is the epitomy of a true southern mom, tough but dignified in any situation. i am so glad to see a cold case this old getting the attention it deserves and hope the evidence will prove who really did this awful thing to this little girl.

Although technically he is "innocent" until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, I guess I just have to be a parrot, DNA says it all. Yes I understand it can only be 99.99% correct, but close enough *and you thought that was only in horse shoes and hand grenades*

Okay I would normal say Innocent until proven guilty. However he is not a saint, he commiteed the same act before and was convicted of thet crime. I don't care that the DNA was small it is his. No two people have the same DNA. And how would it get on her blouse means he had to be close to her.

Body found in shed that has no doors (per court testimony) and no evidence of animal damage during the 33 days laying there? mice, rats, raccons, possoms, dogs, fox, cats?......hummmmm....

When Marcia Trimble went out to deliver the cookies, the lady that ordered them said that she saw Marcia coming. She also said that she saw 2 persons outside, one taller than the other which could be mean that 2 people abducted her, not one and only one of them raped her while the other was holding her. It seem that it was in the evening so neighbors may not observe a van or similar vehicle driving around.

If this is what was happening, they may have abducted her and then killed her and when looking for a place to dispose of the body, saw the open garage door and decided to drop the body off there OR a neighbor abducted, raped and killed her and knowing about the garage with the open garage door, decided to drop the body off there unless the owner of the house is involved.?

OR the person finding the body while looking for a tire in a neighbors garage is the killer. He said that you could see the body from the outside if you know where to look. The police captain said that you could not see the body from the outside because cardboard boxes was covering it. Maybe they should check his DNA?

Maybe Jeromoe Barret got arrested just because of his background?
Chances are that the murderer(s) lives in the area, close to the victims home or friends of the family.?
Just a thought!

I would like to read old newspaper articles about this case to get some background. Where would I go to find this information?

OMG.....fbi lab agent testifying in trial opens and unseals evidence bags, on live camera, containing victims panties and handles them without wearing gloves...when asked says "he will wash hands later"...the point is he is contaminating the evidence by handling them!!! So much for perserving the evidince by the enforcement agency!!!

"They also say Barrett, who faces LIVE in prison if convicted, wasn’t in Green Hills on February 25, 1975 and he didn’t kill Marcia Trimble." Shouldn't that be LIFE in prison?!

You guys are all missing the facts. The story states that Barret was "arrested" for a crime a few weeks before the girls murder. No where does it state that he was ever imprisoned or even convicted of that murder? I'm pretty sure the defense is going to put a gaping hole, or at least a reasonable doubt in the jury's mind when it comes to evidence collected over 30 years (1975), and which seems to be what the prosecuters are weighing their entire case on. Finally, in regards to the race thing, a black man in a white neighborhood would definitely be notices in 1975 Nashville Tennessee. Give me a break! Yes it's relevent. He would have definitely been noticed. So here we have a man arrested for a 30 year old murder with 30 year old evidence being the only evidence? Can they even put him in the area – witness? store receipt? photo? anything? No. Finally, If he wasn't convicted of the first murder then that DNA can't link him to the second murder. Sounds like a scapegoat to me in order to close the case!

Why do people bring race into these discussions. He is innocent until proven guilty. But with the DNA evidence, it appears he will rot in h......
Playing the race card just slows the process for all to be equal. What would impress me as a white man with 4 daughters. 1 who has a black boyfriend, 1 who has an hispanic boyfriend, is to see people of any color who are respectful of me and mine. Don't give a person a bad time because they wear a suit. Baggy pants and the "Gansta" attitude do not impress me.

I was in Nashville area discussed from 1969 to 1973.
It was not at all uncommon for black people to walk by or drive by the neighborhood. The South was not at all as that woman lawyer portrayed it to be. Good heavens.

Josh, the DNA could be a family member's IF it is an identical twin.

I lived in Nashville in 1975 and remember this case well; I just had no idea no one had been arrested until a year ago.
With the music industry (particularly gospel and country) there were relatively few 'all white neighborhoods' in the area, particularly middle class as this one was.

Come on you don't care how small the DNA sample was? Have you ever heard of cross contamination? What about the mystery semen? That did not belong to Mr Barrett. In 1975 I'm sure some one would
have noticed a black man in an all white neighborhood!!!! Guess it's
easier to blame a black man that had committed similar crime even
though it was not on a child. What about the person that the garage
belonged to?????

Rachael–I'm with you. Here in Wpg. Shaw also dropped Court TV. I've watched it for years. Only picked up on net coverage this p.m. so didn't get the whole story. Not the same as with the hosts to cover what you miss. Seems intriguing – thank goodness over 30 yrs old-but still grabs at you. There always seem to be questions about guilt. Of course, that makes it intriguing!

Wilma

this just seems like a waste of tax payer dollars considering he is already serving a life sentence. i understand that....who knows the one he is serving could have appellate issues..... but come on from what i have read the other life sentence is it is pretty solid. I don't buy into closure. No family can ever get closure from this no matter what the outcome of this trial. Although, I DO commend in session from bringing this to us live. Personally, I am ecstatic with ANY live trial. thank you!!!!!!

The only time someone would have the same DNA as another is if they were IDENTICAL twins. Other than that depending on the sample and how well it was preserved it's something like 1 in 1 billion people..Very unlikey that someone else killed her. Evidence coens't lie! People do!!!

Why do people assume that Jerome Barrett was on foot?

Automobiles DID exist in 1975. Schools WERE integrated. Various races worked, even in "all-white" neighborhoods. I have also heard the term "target of opportunity".

My parents almost decided to buy a house at the intersection of Hobbs and Estes back in 1960. They ruled it out on the basis of too much traffic!

I believe a local plant greenhouse was near there and hired men to work for them. Hillsboro Road was a very active shopping area. The road where the Trimbles lived was NOT totally isolated

This jail house snitch is lying. I been to prison. Sex offender or anyone with a sex case does not talk about their case unless you are at sex offender program. He fould out about the case, and tried to get information from defendant about his case. When the defendant got tired of the questioning from the snitch that is when the beef with another came about. There is more I bet. I get upset when people try to get them selves out of there own mess by lying on others. Whether he is guilty or not let the evidence prove him guilty.

I think the semen left on the 9 year old speaks for itself.

I'm sorry but this race thing makes me sick. I am white and had mostly black friends growing up in a school that was probably 89% black. Some of my best friends were black, and I never thought anything of it in the 70's, 80's or any other time period I have had the priviledge to live in.My father employed black workers and they ate supper with us as friends and I never was taught to treat anyone regardless of color any different than anyone else. I'm sure my folks were not the only ones like this in this time period. Everyone bleeds red and the color of one's skin should never be an issue.

"I just don’t see how they can honestly convict this man for THIS MURDER."

It's called DNA! It's not like there is a hidden agenda against this person. Even those who argue contamination don't understand the true nature(punny) of DNA evidence. You can't change a person's DNA to make it look like another person was there. If you want to get to the down and dirty of it, this man's semen was at the crime scene, they extracted the DNA from that and came up with a match. This is not like eye-witness testimony where the memory is a fallible thing and can change or reinvent what it saw. DNA evidence is definitive. If this man's DNA was at the crime scene, then so was he.

Also, the people who say he would have stood out like a sore thumb because of his race and the year it happened need to think it through a bit more. He would have been looked over as if he didn't even exist if he was a worker there. Another point, it was dark or very close to it at that time of the day and year, so he could have easily not been seen.

Joshua, the only family member that can have the same DNA as you is your identical twin.

Jan – same as above. Identical twins have identical DNA. That is the only exception to the rule.

If it is indeed his DNA, then yes, he's guilty. However, I am suspicious of the police's assertion that they have his DNA, seeing as DNA was not collected during the 1970s, and that even if they still have a biological sample taken from the girl's body, the odds are pretty slim that it would still provide viable DNA 30+ years later.

I somewhat agree with the people that ask why race is being brought into the equation, but the truth is that it is still a valid argument, seeing as during the 1970s, a black man in a white neighborhood (especially a southern state like Tennessee) would be very conspicuous and would not likely go unnoticed. I consider it suspicious that nobody reported his presence to police when the girl went missing. The fact that she was in a neighbor's garage also really makes me think it was one of the neighbors who did it, and that the police may not be doing a thorough job in investigating all the possibilities. Have they conclusively eliminated all former residents of the house where the body was found? We don't know that, and we probably won't unless we are in the courtroom during the proceedings. So...let's not jump to any conclusions yet. This is why we have trials, people...

I grew up in Green Hills and lived in the neighborhood when this happened. The mother was very devout and prayed and believed the body would be found by Easter. They didn't find the body when they first searched the area. A young boy (innocent) was under suspicion until very recently. RE: race card--you're right-these were all white neighborhoods but in '76 parents didn't feel the need to be on the look out at all times for their children and this was a very large area. In 1976 Green Hills wasn't the size it is today–very wooded.
Hope Marcia's family finds peace.

This isn't an issue about a "race card." It's the truth. During the 1970s, I was a kid living in West Virginia - which is really not that far removed from Tennessee, in terms of people's attitudes. During that time, my brother and I couldn't ride our bikes on certain roads because people would shout the "N" word at us from their cars. If they thought they could get away with it, I'm sure they would have done much worse.

So maybe you're not prejudiced, but that doesn't mean that others are not. If this man did it, then he should pay the price. But let's see the proof before passing judgment. Again, it's unlikely that viable DNA could be extracted from a piece of clothing that's over 30 years old, unless it was refrigerated the entire time, which I highly doubt. At this point, I still suspect the cops' claim that they have physical evidence. Let's see what happens in court first, and THEN make the judgment call.

I hope Marsha's killer is brought to justice whoever it is beit Mr. Barrett or whoever. I do not think the city of Nashville, however, can completely move on unless we are completely sure we have the right person. In other words merely filling a blank spot in the detective's and district attorney's note books will not bring true closure.
While I certainly do not set out to defend Mr. Barrett, I am not sure the evidence against him (at least thus far) ads up to proof beyond "reasonable doubt". I keep hearing about the DNA evidence and how DNA does not lie. While I grant that may well be true, the mere fact of finding a positive match of his DNA at the crime scene and even on Marsha herself, does not automatically equate to him having actually been the one to have killed her. All that proves conclusively is that he was present and possibly that he participated in her rape. Since there was other DNA present, we can not know who actually was the one who ended the dear girl's life.
Once again, I am not defending or taking up for Mr. Barret in any way. I do not doubt he is capable of such a crime. However, in our legal system there must be proof that elevates to a level beyond reasonable doubt to punish someone for a crime. We are making a huge mockery of our legal system to send someone to prison for a crime when there is inadequate evidence linking them to it just to close a chapter.

When I saw this trial was on today i was wondering if perhaps
Haleigh Cummings met the same fate?
And is in someone's attic/garage?
storage facility??

Always if a Black person is involved people ask or say:
I think it is a raceist thing..
NO!!!!!
It isn't his DNA was found in connection with her demise...
her location
etc...
why is it always called that?
get real please....

I wasn't able to watch the trial yesterday or early this a.m. so I might have missed something but, can someone tell me why the ex cop was asked if the defendant told the cops he worked for the state of Islam? Does that tie into this case or was that a blatant racial tactical move? I don't want to jump to conclusions but.....

@patty....may work to defendents' favor. There was originally some question if the man arrested by the ex-cop was really the defendent. If it was really the defendent then he was in jail when the body was supposedly moved back to the shed/garage just before it was found and the defendent would not have been the one to move the body.....closeup tv camera of defendent in court purposely did a close-up on defendents hand....it has a tattoo of star and crescent moon (state of Islam symbol)...my guess.

Lets all remember that in Feb. it is typically dark at 5:30p.m.
Who's to say if they'd see a black man, white man, or any other color man after dark....remember there were dense woods in the area that was not typically used by the neighbor kids...good place to hide and do a crime I'd say....also remember the DNA is his on that little girls shirt...how did it get there other than by him at the time of the crime? It's HIS DNA, what, a billion or trillion to one that it's not his? It's HIS!!
It's not that he's black, or white or blue or plaid...seriously, it's about a man that did a horrible crime, left DNA on the victom, and finally got caught all these years later cause he was linked to yet another crime....HELLO!!!

So lets remember that scientists can and do collect DNA from people that are well preserved hundreds of years after they have died....Not sure how long DNA survives once collected, and stored, but I imagine it's would last at least 35 years.
And beings people keep wrtiting about identical twins having the same DNA...does the accused have a identical twin? If not than I think people need to drop that point, it carries no weight in this case.

Even if someone else "contaminated" the sample...his or her DNA would be there also, BUT that doesn't add or take away the accused DNA, it's still there...IT WAS THERE....end of story.
Let's say someone else killed her....ok so why is HIS DNA on the blouse?????

His DNA is said to have been on the blouse. MANY have contaminated evident to get a conviction. Do any of us really know how it got there??? INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!!! As stated initally, and I agree, Barrett does not fit the profile. He raped and killed older females, not kill little girls and take their cookie money. Marcia KNEW the killer.

I was a college senior in Nashville at the time of this crime. I moved away later that year, but all the details came rushing back to me as soon as TruTV started describing it. Back then, little girls didn't disappear and turn up murdered every month like they do now. It was a huge story even then without all the media that we now have.

I have a problem with the descriptions of race relations in Nashville at that time. I went to an integrated college and did my student teaching at a brand new high school in a very nice neighborhood which had integrated students and staff. I saw both blacks and whites at the mall, restaurants, sports events, entertainment spots, downtown, around town, everywhere. And everybody went everywhere in cars. This wasn't the 1800's. People are making it sound like everybody had their "place" and never got out of it. That wasn't my experience.

First, a disclaimer – I'm not real familiar with this and only saw this page and two others on cnn.com. But it brings to mind a couple questions for me.

1. DNA from clothing 30 years old breaks down and requires very expensive testing that wasn't even available until just this last year, I thought?

2. The guy is arrested for a different cold case and they just happen to test his DNA for this one? I've never yet heard of a DNA database of DNA found on victims. Is there one now? Or do they just happen to run costly DNA tests against every cold case for the year(s) in question? Or... what?

3. As far as DNA "not lying" I agree that there's a lot of precision. However, there's still room for human error in storing and recording chains of evidence, mistakes that take place in labs, and so on. So it is possible (though unlikely) that an error like one of these could be misleading in some cases.

if dna evidence is 100% incontestable as some people here think, why it is presented to the court with a calculated probability of accuracy. dna evidence is not fool-proof people. the current forensice methodologies are highly accurate, but not perfect.

In watching replays of the verdict footage, I have come away with one conclusion: Since a guilty verdict is handed down when there is no reasonable doubt remaining, I don't feel this applied in this case. I felt there were too many unanswered questions. The authorities, too, felt there were many unanswered questions, as well as the media comments indicated they felt this way, too. As long as there is one unanswered question, I don't understand how the jury could have handed down the guilty verdict. We know from Mr. Barrett's past violent history, he is capable of such a crime, but did he commit this crime? One glaring unanswered question is: Why was Marcia's body not found when the garage was searched many times. Who placed it there at a later time??? I find it unlikely that Mr. Barrett would have returned to the scene of the crime to do this. I believe the authorities should continue looking for their murderer so that real closure can be obtained. There is someone walking around free who has committed this murder.

I must enter one last comment and this is concerning a documentary I saw within the last year regarding a person's DNA. There were two women, oceans apart, whose strange cases baffled the medical geniuses. Both women had two sets of DNA. I cannot recall the case of the one who lived abroad, but the one from the United States I vividly recall. Her children were about to be taken from her because they did not match their mother's DNA. She was accused of stealing the children, and was brought to court. She was pregnant and nearing the end of her term. She challenged someone of authority to be in the delivery room when she delivered the child, and follow the child while a sample was taken for DNA analysis. That person did, and guess what, the DNA of the child did not match the mother's. Naturally, this prompted the scientists to learn the reason why, and it was learned at that time that she had two sets of DNA. So when they say that DNA evidence is infallible, I challenge that statement, especially when 33 years have gone by and the possibility of contamination exists since samples were not handled in the manner in which they are now handled. Even though the possibility is one in 6 trillion for an inaccurate DNA profile.

First of all, Mr. Barrett has a Garrett Morris look going in that photo so he can get around better than most blacks. What Barrett did for a living then might just tie him to the body disposal site and just a hunch, was the shed's owner popular or did a lot of people, especially women, think they were "creepy"?

I agree, the way the media is covering this, you'd think this thing just happened yesterday. The DNA will prove if the guy is guilty or innocent, but just as in the O.J. case America will be willing to convict him just for being associated with the crime in any kind of way.

Karen: I mentioned the instance of identical twins because it is relevant, in the sense that someone posted above that it is impossible for two people to have identical DNA. in fact, there was indeed a case on TruTV a long time ago in which one of a set of twins was responsible for killing someone, so the authorities not only had to obtain the DNA evidence, but they also had to exclude the other twin via circumstancial evidence, to eliminate all reasonable doubt.

Regina: You are referring to a phenomenon called "chimerism," named for the monster of Greek mythology, the Chimera, which was a cross between a goat and a lion. Chimerism is an extremely rare condition in which the person has two or more sets of distinct DNA, caused by the fusion of multiple zygotes in the womb prior to birth. The baby is usually completely healthy but has multiple sets of DNA. As a result, you can take DNA samples from different parts of this person's body, and the samples will be as though you obtained them from two different people. DNA analysis of the different samples would show that they came from siblings, not the same person.

I will add one more statement to my last one. I read Regina's comments again. She stated that the woman's child's DNA did not match hers. This is somewhat incorrect, because the child's DNA will always "match" the mother's, because the child's egg always comes from the mother, which has the mother's DNA (unless, of course, the egg was artificially implanted). The issue is that the child may not match his or her OWN DNA when multiple tests are conducted. Whoever conducted the tests must not have been paying close attention, or else they would have realized that, although the samples were different, they would have been appearing to come from biological siblings, which would have immediately indicated chimerism as the issue. However, since it is so rare, it's probably not likely that any analyst would have thought of it right away.

(I also watched that documentary. I believe it was on the Discovery Channel, for anyone that wants to look it up.)

Teresa made the smartest and most honest comment there is!! Everyone should be treated equal although i do have to say that there are still some that don`t want to be friends with the white people. I also have had many black friends that have treated me better than my own color which is white. The only people i`ve ever had problems with come from extreme southern united states if you know what i mean. I was taught to get along with everyone by both my parents and God. Again, i really think Teresa`s comment is the most truthful!!!

Wait..... was Jerome Barrett "then" 61 in 1975 or "now" 61 in 2008? So is he 91 or 61? The accused man? I am so sick and tired of these crazy people killing kids. If our judicial system would give the convicted the punishment they deserve, instead of babying them with attorneys seeking 15 minutes of fame, I think the cases would decrease. I say start frying these people when convicted. Ok someone said to me "what if it is your brother?" If my brother is going around killing little girls, then fry him too.

DNA evidence is nuts where courts are concerned. Look at that man in prison for several years for not paying child support. He's had 2 DNA test that has proven he's not the childs father yet the court is still making him pay and keeping him behind bars.

I guess nobody on here ever watches Forensic Files? (great show) DNA is even more unique than fingerprints. Even identical twins actually have differences in their DNA, I'm not sure how but I've seen this mentioned by a DNA expert at least twice. So does he have an identical twin? NO! Also they've collected viable DNA samples from Pharoahs. You're talking thousands of years people. 30 years sealed in plastic is nothing. Did you know they've found ways to extract DNA from articles that people have TOUCHED much less soiled with their body fluids? In order for this man NOT to be guilty of something involving this girl a detective in 75 would have had to plant this man's DNA thinking that 30 years later they'd have the technology to link him to this crime along with the other unsolved crime. Oh yeah then he'd have to keep quite about it for 30+ years. With the state of controls they have in these labs the only other conclusion is falsifying the data to pin it on him so they can close the case. If you believe that in this day and age then you likely believe the gov't blew up the trade center so big business could make money on another war. He did something bad involving this girl and there is really no relevant argument to be made beyond that.

BTW – In all of the anals of DNA history no two people have EVER been found to have identical DNA. The 99.99% is a mathmatical figure used to account for the possibility that at some point somewhere in history two people could have had the exact same DNA or that certain markers are common in a large percent of the population. Many times the odds are figured at 1 in 7billion based on those markers because you can exclude all sorts of nationalities and races. In some cases it's 1 in 1 billion because certain markers are somewhat common or mixed. In general DNA from someone of European decent is less distinquishable due to the vast # of people falling under that group, thus the ratio is lowered. In this day and age they can trace DNA back to their origins of certain tribes in Africa so to discount the science involved is just plain stupid.

I lived in nashville in 1975, and read all the newspapers daily about this murder. Eventually, after college, I bought a home in that same neighborhood in 1982. It is not an affuent neighborhood, but is medium income, In 1982, a single black person would not have stood out in the neighborhood because of domestic help and landscapers. The people living in that neighborhood were young professionals and retirees.

I also remember the police hounding some young man who was a minor at the time of death for many years. They were sure he had committed the crime. I would like to hear about how he feels with this conviction.