« THE WHEELS OF INJUSTICE | Main | Arrest revitalizes Coralrose case »
August 13, 2008
CORALROSE FULLWOOD'S MURDER SUSPECT IDENTIFIED
Topics: NewsSARASOTA COUNTY - Patrick Murphy's felony burglary conviction meant court bailiffs swabbed the inside of his mouth immediately after his sentencing to get a DNA sample.
Seven months later, that sample was matched to DNA recovered from Coralrose Fullwood's body, leading to a flurry of activity in an investigation that had gone on for two years without any arrests.
The case authorities are making against Murphy illustrates the effect of a change in state law that requires every felon to give a DNA sample.
It takes longer for the state's DNA workers to process the evidence, but that database of 532,851 offenders has generated nearly 9,000 leads in open investigations.
Links between DNA from crime scenes and known offenders had led to two Sarasota County murder arrests before Murphy was charged with the murder of Coralrose Fullwood on Tuesday.
Murphy went to prison for burglary in February. His cheek swab went to a state lab in Tallahassee in March.
His sample was one of 10,802 processed in July. And the next day, July 26, a software program identified him as a slaying suspect and automatically sent a message to investigators in North Port.
It was one of 322 matches statewide that month.
The state has been collecting DNA samples since 1990, gradually expanding the requirement to more offenders.
At the end of July, there were 13,000 samples that had been waiting to be processed for more than 30 days.
About 10,000 to 12,000 new samples arrive every month for the 20 workers in the DNA database division to process.
There is a priority list for processing the samples, with registered sex offenders on the top of the list.
"Someone who is incarcerated might not be as high up as someone on the streets," said Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Kristen Perezluha.
A database match is not enough to use in court. But it allows investigators to get a search warrant to collect a new sample, which can be analyzed for use at trial.
Posted by admin at August 13, 2008 9:16 AM
