Woman's 1994 murder in Virginia solved with help of DNA and digital facial image
CBSN
A DNA breakthrough has helped solve a decades-old cold case in Virginia and led to second-degree murder charges being filed against a New York man, police said in a news release.
In November 1994, 37-year-old Robin Lawrence was found stabbed to death inside her home in Springfield, Virginia. While investigating the case, crime scene Det. Mark Garmin collected a piece of forensic evidence that was kept for decades and is "why our killer is in custody three decades later," Fairfax County Police Department Chief Kevin Davis said in a news conference on Monday.
Eli Cory, deputy chief of investigations, said during the same news conference that Lawrence was found stabbed multiple times, with her 2-year-old daughter in another room of the home. When detectives began to process the scene, they collected DNA evidence that at the time, did not match any sources in the police's database, but in 2019, the DNA was submitted to a DNA testing company in Virginia.
