DNA Evidence Solves Nearly 7-Year-Old Crime

Story Created: Mar 31, 2014 at 4:07 PM CDT

Story Updated: Mar 31, 2014 at 7:29 PM CDT

Travarious Dejuan White, 26, of Jackson, was convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery, carjacking and felony evading by motor vehicle on March 26.

The conviction stems from a robbery and carjacking on the parking lot of North Side High School about 10:45 p.m. on August 26, 2007. A young man and woman were standing next to a vehicle on the parking lot talking when a man approached them, and asked if they knew if the city bus was still running. He then pulled out a handgun demanding the couples wallet, purse, phones and car keys. The suspect left in their vehicle but was spotted a short time later by a Madison County Sheriffs Department Deputy who pursued the vehicle until it crashed and rolled several times at Royal and Allen streets.

The driver ran from the totaled vehicle and got away at the time. He left behind a distinct hat worn by the robber, his gun and his blood from being injured in the wreck. That blood was sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Laboratory where a DNA profile was identified.

There was no suspect to compare at the time and it did not match known samples in the DNA databases.

Following that, White was arrested on a felony that required a DNA sample be taken and submitted to the TBI for entry in the DNA databases. In February 2012, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported that Whites DNA matched the DNA from the suspects blood from the 2007 robbery/carjacking. Investigators went to the Madison County Jail where White was serving time for violating probation from a felony theft conviction and obtained a control DNA sample from White. That sample was submitted to the TBI lab. The TBI lab confirmed the match.

Currently, White is serving an unrelated 10 year sentence in the Tennessee Department of Corrections for narcotics distribution. Judge Pride has scheduled sentencing on this conviction for April 24.

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DNA Evidence Solves Nearly 7-Year-Old Crime