Category Archives: Transhuman News

The man charged with raping two lifeguards at deserted pools in Northern Virginia is challenging the method by which police identified him as a suspect, in an appeal to Virginia's Supreme Court.

A Virginia man whos serving 65 years in prison for brutally raping two lifeguards in Alexandria and Fairfax County will ask Virginias Supreme Court to overturn his convictions, based on the way he was caught.

On Tuesday, attorneys for Jesse Bjerke will ask the commonwealths highest court to throw out his 2020 conviction and sentence for attacking lifeguards at deserted pools in Fairfax in 2014 and Alexandria in 2016.

The focus of the appeal, filed by Bjerkes attorney Christopher Leibig, challenges the constitutionality of the way detectives used familial DNA analysis to confirm Bjerke was the man who raped the lifeguard in the Alexandria attack. The same analysis was later used to link Bjerke to the earlier Fairfax County rape.

In 2019, genealogy researchers used public databases to link DNA recovered from the victim in the 2016 attack to a member of Bjerkes family.

While tailing Bjerke to an Old Town restaurant, detectives picked up two drinking straws Bjerke had used, after he tossed them in the garbage.

The straws were submitted to Virginias Department of Forensic Science, which developed a DNA profile from the straw. The findings enabled police to get an arrest warrant for Bjerke, who was unaware police considered him a suspect.

After his arrest, a buccal swab of Bjerkes DNA was analyzed, and matched the DNA found on the victim, according to prosecutors.

While not challenging the DNA findings, Bjerkes attorney has said police should have gotten a search warrant before submitting the straws for DNA analysis.

During trial and in his appeal, Leibig disagreed with rulings that said detectives could analyze DNA recovered from a discarded straw in the same way they can search for clues and evidence in garbage left outside a persons home.

In his petition to Virginias Supreme Court, Leibig said while courts have upheld the constitutionality of investigators harvesting evidence, including fingerprints from discarded garbage, Bjerkes case is different.

We leave traces of our genetic identity everywhere we go. These genetic traces, all of them capable of conveying extensive private information about us, are not abandoned in any traditional sense. These invisible troves of information are necessarily and unintentionally left behind. They can be easily collected, Leibig said.

Leibig argues a search warrant should be required before investigators can analyze DNA in the same way a search warrant is required before police can analyze the contents of a legally seized cellphone.

While cutting-edge technology is often used in law enforcement, Leibig says courts are often asked to set limits on whether usage violates a persons constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

It necessarily take a while for issues like this to work their way through courts, Leibig said.

Although police can lawfully follow people on a public street, Leibig said over time courts re-evaluate the reasonable expectation of privacy standard.

It was clear that people in society found the idea of GPS monitoring of the totality of their movements by the government substantially intrusive, and far different from being followed down the street in person, wrote Leibig.

In his conclusion, Leibig asks Virginias Supreme Court to address the issue, and overturn his clients conviction: At the present time there is no binding Virginia precedent about the Fourth Amendment implications of warrantless DNA testing of genetic material unintentionally shed in public.

Originally posted here:
Man convicted of raping two lifeguards appeals to Va. Supreme Court over DNA collected from drinking straws - WTOP

It wasnt until 2015 that the Defense Department finally granted the lab approval to exhume all the unknown graves of the Oklahoma.

We were ready to go, said LeGarde.

But the forensic obstacles had only just begun to emerge.

It was soon apparent that mitochondrial DNA, the type that is inherited from the maternal line, wasnt enough to tell many of the sailors apart. Mitochondrial DNA is relatively easy to collect because it is so abundant but it also means relatives who are possible donors for a match are limited to those only within unbroken maternal lineage.

Unlike Jesus Garcia, who was one of the few non-Caucasian crew members (in a still-segregated Navy, he was limited to jobs serving the ships officers), the vast majority of the Oklahoma crew was white. They were about the same age (most of them between 18 and 25) and mostly the same height (the average between five-foot-seven and five-foot-nine).

It wasnt simply that bone length and size were so similar. There were numerous cases of overlapping genetic markers; in other words, the heritage of the sailors was so similar that even though they were not related their ancestors were.

McMahon explained it this way: You have John Smith and Tim McMahon. Both their ancestors are from England, and they have the same mothers line basically, or the same sequence.

One of those DNA sequences, for instance, matched the remains of 25 individuals, all of them Caucasian. So, 25 people all have that same mitochondrial DNA and many of those were about the same height and age, explained LeGarde. So, the anthropologists were kind of stuck again. What do we do next?

Investigators knew they had to gather DNA samples from the crew members paternal line. This material is less plentiful in each cell and therefore harder to collect. But its also more precise, giving investigators a greater potential pool of relatives for samples to compare to the unidentified remains. That meant collecting more DNA samples from relatives.

If we didn't have that DNA, LeGarde explained, we wouldn't be able to do what we have done.

Original post:
How DNA Solved One of the Final Mysteries of Pearl Harbor - POLITICO

ELIZABETHTON Wednesday was science day in the first-degree murder trial of Chad Benfield, accused of sexually assaulting his neighbor, 89-year-old Mary Nolen, on July 14, 2017.

On the morning of the second day of the trial, the jury heard the videotaped testimony of Dr. Eugene Scheuerman of the William L. Jenkins Forensic Center at East Tennessee State University. He described the autopsy of Mary Nolen.

Scheuermans testimony was presented to the jury by video because he was suffering from terminal cancer at the time he described the autopsy. He has since died.

In the afternoon, the jury heard the videotaped testimony of Special Agent Jennifer Millsaps of the Tennessee Bureau of Information Crime Laboratory in Knoxville, describing how she determined some of the DNA she discovered in a fingernail clipping of Nolen could have come from Benfield.

Scheuerman testified that Nolen died at 1 p.m. on July 26, 2017, at the Johnson City Medical Center. He said the cause of death was complications of blunt force trauma of the head and neck of the 89-year-old woman. He showed photographs of the autopsy, which showed severe bruising of her lower head, neck, chest and back. He said she suffered no broken bones and no recent injury to her brain.

The forensic pathologist said he did not see any physical trauma to the vaginal area, but the absence did not eliminate the possibility that a sexual assault took place. He said he could not give an opinion on the matter. He said Nolen had several medical problems that contributed to her decline, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Millsaps testimony was based on two separate DNA tests. One was a short tandem repeats test, which showed that skin cells found on a vaginal swab of Nolen found DNA from 3 persons. One was Nolen and one was unknown. The third person was a match with Chad Benfield.

The second test was focused on the Y chromosome, which is only found in males. That test determined that the skin cells would have come from Benfield or some other male in his paternal family.

In the videotape, defense attorney Chris Byrd asked Millsaps about the number of skin cells needed to conduct the tests. She told him it takes between 75 and 125 cells. The tests did not find semen in the sample.

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Autopsy, DNA testing outlined in second day of Benfield trial - Johnson City Press (subscription)

NEW BEDFORD Rose Marie Moniz knew the man who is now suspected of bludgeoningher to death in her Acushnet Avenue home in 2001.

No one else would know until 20 years later, when the Bristol County District Attorney got a break in the cold case.

David Reed, the half-brother of Moniz, was indicted last week by a Bristol County grand jury on charges of murder and armed robbery.

The key piece of evidence wasnt a gun or knife.

It was a seashell.

Im pleased to announce the indictments related to the previously unsolved cold case homicide of Rose Marie Moniz, Quinn said in a media statement. She was a mother who was brutally murdered inside the sanctity of her own home. Thanks to the efforts of my Cold Case Unit, along with detectives from our state police unit and New Bedford Police, we were able to bring some sense of relief to the victims family, all of whom suffered for the past 20 years from not knowing what happened to Ms. Moniz.

According to the DA, Moniz, 41, was discovered by her father, Alfred Cunha Jr, on the morning of March 23, 2001, when he went to pick her up for a doctors appointment. Her home was in disarray with numerous kitchen items strewn about the floor and the contents of Monizs purse on the living room floor. Cunha found her dead in the bathroom.

Police officials determined that Moniz had been bludgeoned with a fireplace poker, a cast iron kettle and a conch shell. Her purse was emptied out on the floor and an undetermined amount of cash was stolen. The autopsy report described significant trauma to her head including skull fractures, gaping lacerations and other injuries that resulted in bleeding from both ears, broken nasal bones, and a broken left cheek bone. The medical examiner also noted multiple contusions resulting from blunt trauma all over her body.

More: New Bedford man was stabbed to death in 1978. The DA is revisiting the cold case.

Police noted that there was no sign of forced entry into the home.

Two suspects including her son were dismissed early on and the case went cold.

In 2019, investigators from Quinns Cold Case Unit and a lieutenant from the Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Crimes Unit were reviewing more than 70 Bristol County cold case homicides dating back to the 1970s. Of particular interest to investigators was how the conch shell was used in the Moniz killing. Autopsy photos of the victims face showed that the victim had suffered numerous abrasions and contusions which suggested that the spiny exterior of the conch shell hit the victims face.

The DA suggested that the killer would need to put his fingers inside the opening of the conch to hold it as firmly as was needed to strike the victim with extreme force. The shell was tested for DNA evidence and it matched Reeds DNA. Testing of samples from underneath Monizs fingernails also determined that Y-STR DNA from Reed's male family tree was found. Y-STR DNA technology is used as an investigatory tool.

In 2016, Reed was sentenced to serve 3 to 4 years in state prison for jumping bail in a separate case against him and was required to submit a sample of his DNA to the state DNA database.

Investigators have also been able to obtain further evidence to connect Reed to the 2003 assault and robbery of another New Bedford woman.

More: Bristol County DA re-investigating murders of three elderly SouthCoast women

In late August 2020, Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Ann Marie Robertson assigned to the district attorneys office, and New Bedford Police Detective Andrew Simmons attempted to interview Reed at his residence on Milton Street in Dartmouth. After the brief interview, Reed fled the state.

Reed was 33 years old at the time of Monizs murder. He lived in Acushnet and New Bedford.

Two years after Monizs murder, another New Bedford woman was brutally beaten and robbed. According to the DA, a private citizen heard a woman screaming for help around 10:45 p.m. on the night of June 10, 2003. The screams he heard were coming from the direction of the Oceanside Plaza. He opened his door and saw the victim and noticed that she was covered in blood. She had been bludgeoned in the head with a tire iron. She told police her attacker had taken her to a secluded area in his truck, where he beat her with the weapon before pushing her out of his truck and leaving her bleeding from her head in a dark, isolated alley. Her purse was stolen in the attack.

More: New Bedford man sentenced to life in prison for 2018 brutal stabbing of Wareham woman

The next month, she saw him driving by her house on Durfee Street. She called the investigating detective. Her nephew and five others jumped into a minivan and followed Reeds truck. The nephew later told police that Reed attempted to lose them. Reed's truck struck a parked vehicle but continued to flee. New Bedford police picked up on the chase near New Bedford High School and called for a backup. Officer Alan Faber was approaching from the other direction in a marked cruiser with his lights on when Reed attempted to avoid being stopped at the intersection of Hillman Street and Rockdale Avenue. He crashed his truck head-on into officer Fabers cruiser causing significant damage and injuring the officer.

The DA said that even after the crash, Reed tried to push the cruiser out of the way with his truck. Other responding officers apprehended Reed. The woman he had assaulted was taken to the arrest scene where she identified the truck and Reed as her attacker.

Reed was charged with robbery and assault of the victim, and the incident involving the ramming of the police cruiser.

He was released on bail and due back for a jury trial in June 2004.

The DA said Reed fled the state and lived in Florida and Hawaii before moving to Alabama where he worked in a lumber yard and eluded police for almost a decade. Reed was taken into custody in May 2015 when he came back to Massachusetts. The woman he had assaulted and robbed had died six months earlier. The charges related to her assault and robbery were dismissed without prejudice to the Commonwealth on March 25, 2016 because there was insufficient evidence at that time on which the Commonwealth could proceed to trial, according to the DA.

Although prosecutors could not go forward on those charges back then, Reed was held on an indictment for felony bail jumping and still had the pending District Court charges related to his attempt to flee from police and the resulting police cruiser crash. In 2016, he was sentenced to serve 3 to 4 years in state prison on those charges. As a result of these convictions, Reed was also required to submit a sample of his DNA to the state DNA database.

Reed was captured on September 10, 2021, sleeping at the Providence Rescue Mission shelter in Rhode Island. Reed is currently being held in jail in connection to the alleged 2003 assault and robbery, as further evidence connected to the incident has resulted in a renewed indictment.

Reed will be arraigned in Fall River Superior Court on Friday, December 10at 9 am. charging him with the murder and armed robbery of Moniz.

"We look forward to prosecuting this case in open court, Quinn stated.

At the time of the slaying, neighbors and family members gathered at the crime scene and spoke quietly to one another, as the home stood behind police caution tape with Easter decorations in the windows.

Her sister, Kim Pacheco (Morrett in 2001), told the Standard-Times back then that Moniz stayed home most days and did not go out much.

Moniz was noted for having frequent yard sales, one neighbor said in a Standard-Times story the day after the killing. She saidsomeone complained about the cars and traffic from the yard sales. After the complaint, the yard sales abruptly stopped.

Moniz was a lifelong resident of the city and was a member of the First Church of Nazarene. She had worked part-time at the Donut Mill in Acushnet and F.C. Foods, according to her obituary. In her leisure time, she enjoyed arts and crafts and working in her yard.

She is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in New Bedford. Her headstone is decorated with a holiday wreath with a red bow, holly twigs and pine cones. A single red rose, on the other side of the headstone,continues to bloom despite the oncoming winter. The stone reads: Those we love remain with us for love it self lives on.

Reed served as a pallbearer for her funeral.

Alfred Cunha, Jr., was born in New Bedford, worked as a foreman in the fishing industry and was well known on the waterfront, according to his obituary. He loved going on trips to New Hampshire and spending time with his family. He reportedly fathered Reed from an extramarital affair.

He died on Aug. 3, 2016 after a brief illness. He was 89.

Frances Cunha died one year after her husband Alfred at the age of 78. She worked as a packer and trimmer for F.C. Seafood.

They both went to their graves never knowing who killed their daughter.

Monizs brother, Fred Cunha, said his sister took care of everyone who needed it. When his own wife was ill, he said it was Moniz who helped him take care of her. Cunha also tells about a customer at the donut shop whod lost his wife and Moniz would make him pots of soup.

But theres something that disturbs him all these years later.

Monizs son, Robert was questioned by police in his mothers death, but was ruled out as a suspect.

Cunha said Robert, who was 19 back in 2001,worked late and usually got home around 11 p.m. He said Moniz called her son to tell him she had ordered a pizza. However, Robert didnt go right home after work and went out with friends, Cunha said. Not wanting to get caught staying out late, Cunha said Robert went up to his room through the back way through the dining room and up to his bedroom.

Robert was awakened the next morning by his grandfathers screams when he discovered Monizs body in the bathroom.

"My father thought Robert was dead too, because his car was in the driveway," Cunha said.

For 20 years this has hung over his head, Cunha told The Standard-Times, because people thought Robert was still a suspect. Cunha said he recently took Robert out for breakfast and was eager to tell their waitress about the break in the case, but before he could, he said the waitress interrupted him and said, It was the son, wasnt it?

I want everyone that thinks it was her son, to know that they have been wrong this whole time, Cunha said.

"She was the most awesome person you'd ever want to meet," Cunha said.

Standard-Times digital producer Linda Roycan be reached at lroy@s-t.com. You can follow her on Twitter at@LindaRoy_SCT. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times.

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DNA on seashell points to family member as murder suspect in New Bedford cold case - SouthCoastToday.com