DNA, Cell Phone Led Hartford Police To Murder Suspect

HARTFORD DNA evidence recovered from the body of a murder victim and cell phone records helped Hartford detectives track down the man they say is responsible for the murder of Sonia Rivera, whose body was found a year and a half ago in a trash-strewn lot behind 216 Washington St.

Rivera, 48, was found suffering from severe head trauma about 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, 2012. Her pants had been pulled down. A brick recovered nearby is believed to be the murder weapon.

Staff at Hartford Hospital used a rape kit to recover evidence from Rivera's body and turned it over to Hartford police. It was sent to the state crime lab and entered into a database. Less than two months later there was a match: Denzil Nurse, a 42-year-old man from Hartford, according to the warrant for his arrest.

Detectives interviewed Nurse and he allowed them to take a mouth swab so that the DNA match could be double-checked, according to the warrant. They also interviewed Nurse, who admitted to having been in the area at the time of the crime, and admitted he knew Rivera, but denied having sexual contact with her.

Police obtained a search warrant for Nurse's cell phone records and determined he was near Washington Street at the time of the crime and that his phone was silent when police think the crime occurred.

When detectives went to talk to Nurse again, they told him they'd found his DNA in Rivera's body. He again insisted he was innocent of killing her, but said she'd performed a sex act on him.

Police, in the warrant, said his explanations of how the DNA got into Rivera's body did not make sense.

He remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail on a charge of murder. He is due back in court May 29.

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DNA, Cell Phone Led Hartford Police To Murder Suspect