DNA match leads to charges in woman’s 2012 beating death in her Berkeley home – STLtoday.com

BERKELEY A DNA match has led to a first-degree murder charge in a 2012 beating death in Berkeley.

Kavion L. Thomas, 27, was charged Tuesday with beating Patti Ann Harvill to death April 25, 2012, in her Berkeley home.

Charges say Thomas DNA was found on Harvills body and in droplets of blood at her home in the 9000 block of Harold Drive.

She was found in a hallway; police found no evidence of a break-in, and no valuables were taken.

Thomas is serving an eight-year sentence in Kentucky for manslaughter in the October 2014 beating death of a man at a closed-down car wash in Lexington, Ky.

News reports say he and two others were accused of killing Brian DePreta, 50. Records show Thomas became eligible for parole for that conviction on July 1.

Harvills sister said Tuesday she is relieved about the charges but says she is still frustrated, particularly with Berkeley police, that a resolution has taken more than five years.

Once they didnt get a hit on DNA, they sat back and waited for (the killer) to mess up, said Harvills sister, Gina Giardina, of Park Hills, Mo. I thought I was going to go to my grave not knowing who killed her.

Police have said they think Harvill knew her killer, but Giardina said her sister did not know Thomas.

Harvills family has held annual vigils near Harvills home seeking clues in her murder. Giardina said she can now finish her forearm tattoo of a cross with her sisters name and date of death. She plans to have Rest in Peace inked above the cross.

Harvill was divorced, had lived in Berkeley since 2003 and worked as a receptionist for the Skypark garage near St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Bail for Thomas on the murder charge was set at $500,000.

Joel Currier 314-621-5804 @joelcurrier on Twitter jcurrier@post-dispatch.com

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DNA match leads to charges in woman's 2012 beating death in her Berkeley home - STLtoday.com