California man arrested after DNA from bite wound helps solve 1994 murder of mother of three – CBS News

A California man has been arrested and charged in the 1994 murder of a mother of three thanks in part to DNA retrieved from bite wounds on the victim, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced Tuesday. Cheri Huss was found stabbed to death and bitten by her killer inside her Desert Hot Springs apartment 28 years ago.

Sharron Eugene Gadlin, 48, was pulled over while he was driving in Gardena and arrested on Friday. He is being held in Riverside's Southwest Detention Center on $1 million bail.

"I hope Cheri and her family will finally get the justice they deserve and have waited so long for," Hestrin said in a statement.

According to the District Attorney's Office, Huss was found stabbed multiple times and was bitten by her killer on April 24, 1994. Homicide investigators determined she fought off her attacker, and blood left at the scene was determined to be male and matched the DNA of the saliva in Huss' bite wounds.

The case was cold for nearly 28 years, until forensic genetic genealogy identified Gadlin as a person of interest last month, district attorney's officials said. Further investigation determined Gadlin lived in Thousand Palms in 1994, about 12 miles from where Huss was found murdered.

Cold case investigators got a warrant to get a saliva sample from Gadlin on Feb. 14. The state Department of Justice lab determined the sample from Gadlin matched the DNA profile of the man who killed and bit Huss, prosecutors said.

Gadlin was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

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California man arrested after DNA from bite wound helps solve 1994 murder of mother of three - CBS News