RECENT CODIS SUCCESS STORIES

Solving a Double Murder in the Deep South

In the summer of 1992, Rita Baldo and her daughter Lisa were murdered in their Florida apartment. Both had gunshot wounds to the head and Lisa had been raped. Investigators found DNA in the saliva of three cigarette butts at the scene (neither of the women smoked). The DNA profile was compared with those taken from various suspects in the case, but none matched. The profile was uploaded to CODIS in 1998. Three years later, a Wisconsin forensic scientist matched a profile from that state's convicted offenders database with the DNA from the Florida case. The profile came from convicted felon James A. Frederick, who was serving time in Wisconsin. A later, more sophisticated test of hairs in the apartment also matched Frederick's DNA. Frederick was indicted in May 2003.

Putting a Rapist on Parole Behind Bars for Good

In September 2000, Carol Shields was found suffocated and murdered in a friend's apartment in north Kansas City. Her clothes were missing, and the scene had been meticulously cleaned by the killer. Still, investigators managed to find DNA underneath the victim's fingernails. The following June, that DNA was linked to a profile in NDIS -- from paroled Arkansas rapist Wayne DuMond, who had not been a suspect in the case. DuMond was arrested, tried, and convicted -- largely on the strength of the DNA evidence. Earlier this month, he was given a life sentence without parole.

Cracking a 1968 Murder Case

In 1968, a 14-year-old girl named Linda Harmon was raped and murdered in San Francisco while babysitting for a neighbor. A semen sample from the autopsy was collected and stored by the San Francisco medical examiner. The case went unsolved, but last year the sample was tested for DNA. It matched that of William Speer, a convicted rapist who had been confined to an Arizona mental hospital. It is believed to be the oldest "cold" case solved by CODIS. Speer has been arrested and recently pled not guilty to Harmon's murder.