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Author Topic: Morgan Dana Harrington #2 7/1/10 -  (Read 727474 times)
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trimmonthelake
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« Reply #260 on: November 03, 2010, 07:59:54 AM »

http://findmorgan.com/category/upcoming-events
UPCOMING EVENTS
11/19/10
Dedication Morgan Harrington Educational Wing Omni Village, Zambia
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« Reply #261 on: November 03, 2010, 11:01:09 AM »


     Justice for Morgan, Peace for her family


      2 4 1


       Never Forget
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I will ALWAYS stand with the girls, Natalee and Caylee, forever.
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« Reply #262 on: November 05, 2010, 01:13:25 PM »

http://www.examiner.com/private-investigations-in-national/morgan-harrington-road-rally-for-justice
Morgan Harrington Road Rally For Justice

    * November 4th, 2010 7:44 pm ET
The hunt for Morgan Harrington's killer continues.  On November 6, 2010 the Morgan Harrington Road Rally for Justice  will begin in Roanoke, Virginia at 8:30 AM.   The purpose of the rally is to focus attention on finding Morgan's killer and to promote public safety.  Morgan Harrington disappeared on  Oct. 17, 2009 after leaving a concert in Charlottesville, Va.  Harrington's  body was found on  January 27, 2010 in a rural area, 10 miles outside of Charlottesville, VA.

Wanted in connection with the Morgan Harrington murder and an unsolved rape in VA
Photo: Crime Solvers (703) 591-TIPS
Forensics has linked the Harrington murder to a 2005 unsolved rape in Fairfax City, Va.; which appeared to be a huge break in this case.  However, the identity of this assailant remains a mystery.  The public is urged to look closely at the composite drawing of the suspect and  the locations of where the crimes took place.   The identification and arrest of this suspect may prevent another rape or murder from happening again.  The assailant is described as follows:

    * 30-40 years of age
    * Approximately 6 feet tall with a medium build
    * African American
    * His appearance may have been altered since the issuance of the wanted poster
    * The rape took place off Rock Garden Drive in Fairfax on 9/24/2005 at 10:00 PM
    * The abduction of Harrington took place outside the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA
    * Harrington's remains were found on Anchorage Farm in the Redhill Area, South of Charlottesville

 Anyone with information regarding the identification of the person linked to these two unsolved cases is urged to call the 24 hour tip line at:
(434) 352-3476 or (434) 709-1685

For more information about Saturday's Road Rally for Justice,  please visit the Facebook page set up for the rally. at:

http://tinyurl.com/24n23jx
 

http://www.vsp.state.va.us

http://www.findmorgan.com

http://www.ratdogdick.com
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« Reply #263 on: November 06, 2010, 08:20:39 PM »

Morgan Harrington's friends and family gather for the Road Rally for Justice for Morgan

The group traveled from Roanoke to Charlottesville and then to Fairfax.

Web Staff
 
7:16 p.m. EDT, November 6, 2010

Morgan Harrington's friends and family gathered Saturday for the Road Rally for Justice for Morgan.

The group, which included Morgan's parents Dan and Gil Harrington, traveled from Roanoke to Charlottesville and then to Fairfax.  The travelers decorated their cars with the sketch of the suspect in a Fairfax rape case.

Morgan went missing from a Metallica concert in October 2009.  She was a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student from Roanoke County.  Her body was found in a farm in Albemarle County a few months later.

Forensic evidence linked Morgan's case to a 2005 rape case in Fairfax.  The woman in that case survived and gave police a description of the suspect.

Participants in the road rally hope to raise more awareness of the connection between the two cases and want to remind everyone that the suspect is still on the loose.

"It was the face of evil to me. It is shocking, it still remains shocking, we have it on our car and it’s disgusting is how we feel about it," says Dan Harrington.

"We’re hoping," says Gil Harrington.  "It would be great to shake this tree hard enough for him to fall out and for us to get an arrest."
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj-morgan-harringtons-friends-and-110610,0,74885.story

 
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Justice for Natalee


« Reply #264 on: November 07, 2010, 12:12:02 PM »

Thanks Trimm and Nut. Justice for Morgan!
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2 4 1
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« Reply #265 on: November 08, 2010, 10:36:37 AM »

http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/DNA_Connection_Made_to_Morgan_Harrington_Case_106864448.html
Updated: 10:09 AM Nov 8, 2010
DNA Connection Made to Morgan Harrington Case
Police say a DNA connection has been found between the Morgan Harrington case and to a Fairfax woman who was kidnapped and raped in 2005.

Posted: 10:36 PM Nov 7, 2010
Reporter: Amanda Crawford
Email Address: Amanda.Crawford@WHSV.com
Officials say they've found a link to the abduction and murder of Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who vanished outside of a Metallica concert in Charlottesville more than a year ago.

Police say a DNA connection has been found between the Morgan Harrington case and to a Fairfax woman who was kidnapped and raped in 2005.

The Harrington family went to Fairfax Saturday to pass out sketches of a man now linked to two tragic cases.

Officials told ABC News that the DNA collected from a 25-year old woman kidnapped and raped in Fairfax County is forensically connected to Morgan Harrington's case.

They warn that this man may have changed his appearance in the past five years, but they hope that someone can recognize him.

© Copyright 2010 WHSV / Gray Television Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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« Reply #266 on: November 08, 2010, 10:40:32 AM »

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2053288&nid=25
Parents hope sketch helps find Morgan Harrington's killer
November 8, 2010 - 7:42am


ROANOKE, Va. - Family and friends hope a road trip will help identify a suspect in the killing of a 20-year-old Roanoke woman who disappeared after leaving a concert at the University of Virginia.

Morgan D. Harrington's parents conducted the trip Saturday from Roanoke to Charlottesville and Fairfax.

Forensic evidence links Harrington's case to a 2005 rape in Fairfax City. The woman in the Fairfax case survived and gave a description of the suspect to police.

During their trip Saturday, the outside of the Harringtons' vehicle contained a police sketch of a man's face in the Fairfax case.

Dan Harrington says he was surprised few people in Fairfax knew the cases were related, despite the sketch being released in July.

"It did shock us when we realized this week that much of Fairfax did not know the connection," he says.

Talking with WDBJ7 in Roanoke, Morgan's mom, Gil Harrington, says she hopes the rally will lead to results.
"It would be great to finally shake this tree hard enough for him to fall out and for us to get an arrest," she says.

Anyone with information about the wanted man can contact City of Fairfax Police Detective Mike Boone at (703) 385-7959.

Anyone wishing to provide information in the Morgan Harrington case is encouraged to call the Jefferson Area Crime Stoppers at (434) 977-4000 or Virginia State Police at (434) 352-3467 or email State Police at bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.

___
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« Reply #267 on: November 08, 2010, 10:42:06 AM »

2 4 1 Justice For Morgan
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« Reply #268 on: November 08, 2010, 10:45:58 AM »

http://www.examiner.com/cosmetics-in-national/morgan-harrington-news-dna-links-kidnapping-rape-to-slain-student-video
Morgan Harrington news: DNA links kidnapping, rape to slain student (video)
    * November 8th, 2010 2:39 am ET




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« Reply #269 on: November 08, 2010, 10:49:45 AM »


Police sketch of man suspected in the abduction and rape of a woman in 2005. The suspect's DNA has been linked to the kidnap and murder of Morgan Harrington in 2009.
Photo: (Sketch Released by Authorities)
http://www.examiner.com/cosmetics-in-national/morgan-harrington-news-dna-links-kidnapping-rape-to-slain-student-video
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« Reply #270 on: November 09, 2010, 02:59:24 PM »

http://www.wset.com/Global/story.asp?S=13466634
Harringtons Push for Familial DNA testing
Posted: Nov 08, 2010 5:16 PM CST
Roanoke, VA -  A controversial method of DNA testing has put a suspected serial killer behind bars in California. Now Virginia officials are researching the implications of using familial DNA testing to help identify suspects in major unsolved crimes.

Morgan's parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, are advocating hard for this testing in their search for justice.

October 2009 the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student was abducted and killed outside a Metallica concert in Charlottesville.

Following that major success story in California, there is likely legislation heading to the General Assembly looking to authorize familial DNA testing in Virginia as well.

"(We) found out over the past week or so that the General assembly is going to be looking at whether or not Virginia will decide to process familial DNA in crime cases. We definitely hope that that tool can be added to the repertoire that law enforcement has at their disposal," Gil Harrington said.

Currently, the Virginia Department of Forensics Science can only release exact DNA matches, that identify one suspect, to investigators.

The change would allow that list to include DNA hits that are close- family-close, which could help investigators better identify potential suspects through family links.

It's a tool recently used in California to nab the suspected "Grim Sleeper" who police have tied to eleven murders.
There, investigators zeroed in on Lonnie Franklin after his son's DNA provided a close hit when entered in that state's DNA database following a felony conviction for an unrelated crime.

That case got the ball rolling here in Virginia and the Harrington's think it can identify the man linked to Morgan's death.

"Of course there are issues related to money... cost as well as human rights. So it's a big issue but I think it's an important one for the state to look at," Dan Harrington said.

The Virginia Department of Forensic Science does endorse the idea and will be presenting their findings to the State Crime Commission next Monday, which then will report to the General Assembly.

Right now only California and Colorado use familial DNA testing.
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« Reply #271 on: November 11, 2010, 07:09:51 AM »

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/11/11/harringtons-push-new-dna-method/
Harringtons push new DNA method
Familial DNA testing gains spotlight after Los Angeles police find murder suspect
By David Replogle, Senior Writer on November 11, 2010

From 1985-88, a serial killer targeting young black women ravaged the greater Los Angeles area. After a failed attack in November 1988, the murders, connected by DNA and ballistics evidence, stopped.

Fourteen years later, they began again. Police officials believe the attacker from the 1980s returned to claim three more victims from 2002-07. Nicknamed the “Grim Sleeper” because of the long hiatus between crimes, a suspect, Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., was finally identified this year before his July 7 arrest in Los Angeles. Franklin was charged with 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Authorities used the DNA of his son, Christopher, whose DNA police had on record because of his prior felony conviction, to identify Franklin. This complex process has not been widely used in the United States, adopted thus far only in California since 2008 and Colorado since 2009, said Gail Jaspen, chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science.

But now, Dan and Gil Harrington — parents of Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who was abducted and slain last fall after leaving a concert at John Paul Jones Arena — are making a push for the testing to be available in Virginia to spur on the search for a suspect in their daughter’s case, Gil Harrington said yesterday.

“Familial DNA testing is a process used in an attempt to identify a close blood relative — typically a parent, child or sibling — of a perpetrator in a crime when the DNA profile of the specific perpetrator is not identified in a routine search of a DNA databank,” Jaspen said.
This past Saturday, the Harringtons made a road trip from their hometown of Roanoke up to Fairfax, Va. Painted on the outside of their car was a composite sketch of the suspect. Forensic evidence links Harrington’s case to that of a 2005 rape case in Fairfax, the victim of which survived and gave a physical description to police officials.

“We were surprised to get to Fairfax and find — after distributing copies of the sketch in the park that abuts the Fairfax Police Station — that two people in the park thought they saw this man,” Gil Harrington said. “Obviously, it could have been somebody else … But it validated our reasons to keep shaking the tree.”

But “shaking the tree” using familial DNA evidence is a controversial investigation practice because it uses someone potentially not involved with the crime to find the real suspect.

“[The testing] has been met with some privacy concerns because its purpose is to identify someone who is not believed to be a perpetrator of a crime, but someone who might provide an investigative lead,” Jaspen said. “Essentially, this investigates innocent people.”

These investigations, Harrington said, are legitimate inquiries that could provide valuable breakthroughs.

“DNA can be submitted for cause, for suspicion,” she said. “Virginia collects DNA for felony offenses but does not submit it to databanks unless there’s a conviction. There might be a DNA sample on somebody’s evidence shelf from the last five years that has never been submitted in between Charlottesville and Fairfax.”

The state has started looking into the possibility of incorporating the technique in its investigations. Next Monday, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science will make a presentation about familial DNA testing to the Virginia State Crime Commission.
“We don’t know which seeds will bear fruit, but we want to keep dropping them,” Harrington said. “Perhaps it’s a long shot, but one worth checking into, if not for Morgan’s case, just to have the ability to cross-reference DNA is very valuable.”

Harrington argues that advances in DNA testing should be embraced by investigators.

“America’s system of justice and culture is so based on the individual and should be reevaluated,” Harrington said. “The law is slow, but technology is going mighty fast.”

Next week, while Dan Harrington attends the Virginia Department of Forensic Science’s presentation, his wife will be across the Atlantic Ocean in Zambia, dedicating a wing of a school named after their daughter.

“Morgan wanted to be an educator,” Gil Harrington said. “Although she can’t do that, there will be many kids taught in her honor.”
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« Reply #272 on: November 11, 2010, 08:35:52 AM »

Light a candle for Morgan -

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=Morga
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« Reply #273 on: November 14, 2010, 05:57:52 PM »

Hearing will be held Monday on familial DNA tool

By Frank Green | Media General News Service
Published: November 14, 2010


the link locks me up...........

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2010/nov/14/hearing-will-be-held-monday-familial-dna-tool-ar-653012/
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« Reply #274 on: November 14, 2010, 07:07:25 PM »

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/nov/14/dnaa14-ar-651851/
Crime panel will hold hearing on familial DNA
By Frank Green | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: November 14, 2010
Richmond, Va. --

With a sadistic serial rapist and killer at work in 1987, Richmond police turned to DNA, then a new investigative tool that would send Timothy Wilson Spencer to the electric chair and helped revolutionize forensic science.

Close on the heels of the Spencer case, Virginia established one of the first offender DNA databases in the country that has since helped solve and prevent thousands of serious crimes, cleared innocent suspects and exonerated persons wrongly convicted.

Tomorrow, the Virginia State Crime Commission will hear about familial DNA searching, a crime-fighting technique with similar potential but one that Virginia -- and many other states -- have been slow to pursue although prosecutors, defense lawyers and some high-profile victims strongly favor it.

Unlike traditional searches that seek exact DNA profile matches, familial searches comb offender databases for near-matches of people who might be a parent, child or sibling of a suspect who left DNA at a crime scene, but whose DNA profile is not yet on a database.

Those identified as possible relatives are not suspects but serve as leads to the guilty. Further lineage DNA testing can greatly narrow down the list of possible relatives identified in a familial search.

The method was considered here three years ago but dropped until recently when it led to an arrest in the "Grim Sleeper" serial killings in Los Angeles. Now Virginia prosecutors after the elusive East Coast rapist and the parents of slain Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington think familial searching should be given a chance.
State Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, vice chairman of the crime commission and a former prosecutor, is inclined to agree.

"This could be a huge help. You don't get any hits, you don't get any hits, but at least it increases the value of the database that we have," he said.

Bell said the commission wants to hear about any concerns, make sure nothing in state law precludes it and if it is desirable, to see what can be done to move it along.

"There are some high-profile cases in my community and in Virginia where we have some biological evidence, but we just don't know who it is," he said. "If you are able to get a familial hit, that certainly helps you come up with a much shorter list of people who may be involved."

One of the high-profile cases in Bell's community is the slaying of Harrington, 20, who disappeared in Charlottesville in October 2009 and whose body was found in an Albemarle County hayfield in January. Police have linked unspecified biological evidence between the Harrington case and a 2005 abduction and sexual assault in Northern Virginia.

Harrington's parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, of Roanoke, say the biological evidence is DNA, and they hope Virginia uses familial searching in their daughter's case.
"It really gives another weapon in the arsenal against crime," said Gil Harrington. "We want to definitely come out in support of that," she said. Her husband plans to attend the commission meeting and speak in favor of familial searching.

Paul Ebert, Prince William County's commonwealth's attorney and an assistant, Rick Conway, also plan to attend the meeting and address the commission. Ebert and Conway hope to get the Department of Forensic Science to perform familial searches in the case of the East Coast rapist.

The rapist has attacked roughly 20 women in five states, including two teenagers in Dale City on Oct. 31, 2009.

DNA links the East Coast rapist attacks, and it links two attacks in the Harrington case, but apparently does not match anyone in offender databases. Ebert and the Harringtons know the odds are long that familial searching will pay off, but they believe there is little to lose in trying.

. . .
Nearly half of the people incarcerated in the U.S. report they had a close family member who had also been locked up and, presumably, their DNA profiles are also in DNA databases.

In the Grim Sleeper case, familial searching turned up a close match between crime-scene DNA and that of a young man recently convicted on a weapons charge. Based on that lead, investigators determined that the young man's father, Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57, could be the killer, and they surreptitiously obtained his DNA profile from a discarded slice of pizza. Franklin's profile and a crime-scene profile matched, and Franklin was charged with 10 homicides.

Familial searching has generated controversy elsewhere -- it is barred in Maryland and the District of Columbia -- because of privacy concerns and false leads.

Proponents -- including Denver prosecutor Mitchell R. Morrissey and retired California prosecutor Rockne Harmon, who will address the commission tomorrow -- say the concerns are either misplaced or readily can be overcome with safeguards. Many defense attorneys also favor it because it can help clear the innocent.

Only California and Colorado now regularly conduct familial searches.

Last month, after hearing a plea from Conway on the East Coast rapist case, the Virginia Board of Forensic Science unanimously recommended that the General Assembly consider implementing and funding familial searching.

Peter Marone, director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, urged caution and said important questions, such as appropriate computer software and a policy on which cases the technique should be used, must be addressed.
He said he favors a conservative policy such as that in California, where familial searches are conducted only in cases where there is an active threat to public safety, when other methods have been exhausted, and when the police are committed to following up the leads generated.

A committee there reviews the data and decides whether to release the search results to law enforcement.


Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com
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« Reply #275 on: November 15, 2010, 03:44:04 PM »

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/nov/15/dnaagat15-ar-654662/
Crime commission urged to endorse familial DNA searchingBy Staff Reports | Times-Dispatch
Published: November 15, 2010
Richmond, Va. --
The Virginia State Crime Commission listened to experts and proponents of familial DNA searching explain the investigative technique along with requests from the father of slain Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington and Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert that Virginia start using it.

"Familial DNA testing would be a new a valuable tool in solving not only my daughter's case, but also scores of other horrible crimes," Dan Harrington told the commission today. He said he realizes the odds are long it could solve any one particular case.

"Nothing could ever bring back our daughter, but with luck and science, we hope that the person who killed our daughter would be brought to justice," he said.

State Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, the commission chairwoman, said the commission may not be able to help with luck, but may be able to help with the science. Howell suggested that next year the crime commission might be the appropriate setting to study various policy and procedural questions raised by familial searching.

Earlier this morning the commission, which advise the General Assembly and studies criminal-justice-related legislation, was told by Peter Marone, director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, that the Virginia Attorney General's Office has said no changes in state law were needed to allow familial testing.

Traditional DNA searches seek exact matches between DNA profile found at crime scenes with a profile of a known suspect already on a DNA offender database.

Familial searches look through offender DNA databases for near-matches of people who might be a parent, child or sibling of a suspect who left DNA at a crime scene, but whose DNA profile is not yet on a database. Those identified as possible relatives are not suspects, but serve as leads for police to find the guilty party.

Further lineage DNA testing can greatly narrow down the list of possible relatives identified in a familial search.

Virginia considered the technique years ago, but it gained renewed attention when familial searching nabbed a suspect in the Grim Sleeper slayings in Los Angeles. In that case, the suspect's son was arrested on an unrelated charge and was identified as a possible relative of the killer out of a search of more than 1 million people in California's DNA offender database.

Police investigation led to his father. When a DNA sample from the father matched that of DNA from the Grim Sleeper crime scenes, he was arrested. -- Frank Green

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« Reply #276 on: November 15, 2010, 09:24:37 PM »

http://www.nbc29.com/story/13503834/copy-va-crime-commission-takes-up-familial-dna-spice
VA Crime Commission Discusses DNA
Posted: Nov 15, 2010 10:10 AM CST Updated: Nov 15, 2010 2:51 PM CST
The father of murdered Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington is asking the General Assembly to approve the use of new DNA technology. A procedure called a "familial DNA" search is science that could solve crimes, even if it does not solve Morgan's.

With familial DNA testing, police can put an unknown sample into the state databank and search for blood relatives like a father, mother, or sibling. If there is a match, investigators can use it as a lead to look for their suspect.

Dan Harrington hopes the new technology could lead investigators to the person who killed his daughter, Morgan, in Charlottesville more than a year ago. It is being used in just two states, and is somewhat controversial, but supporters say it is a proven way to find violent offenders.

"Familial DNA testing would be a new and valuable tool in solving not only my daughter's case but also scores of other horrible crimes that have remained open," Harrington explained.

Right now, only California and Colorado use the procedure which some people say is an invasion of privacy; supporters disagree.

"It's simply a question of trying to do everything you can with science now, or not," said familial DNA expert Rockne Harmon.

The state crime lab says it can do the work for about $165,000 a year.
It became very, very apparent to us that this is not a science issue; the science is very clear," stated VA Department of Forensic Science Director Pete Marone.

Legislators and lawyers seem to agree that the procedure is already allowed under Virginia law. The question now is if and how to use it. Dan Harrington hopes the answer comes quickly.

"It may or may not make a difference in Morgan's case but there are a lot of unsettled, unsolved cases it could make a difference in," he said.

Harrington says the procedure is especially important given the DNA link between Morgan's case and an unsolved attack in Fairfax from 2005.

The Crime Commission will decide next month what, if any, recommendations will go to the legislature.

Reported by Adam Rhew
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« Reply #277 on: November 16, 2010, 05:26:20 AM »


This article is dated Nov. 15, 2010, and I think we've already seen some of the information, but it's a timely reminder of why "familial DNA" search would be important in certain cases. JMHO

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=346113&paper=88&cat=104
Fairfax Suspect Sought in Murder Case
DNA links Charlottesville-area killing with a previous attack in Fairfax City.
November 15, 2010

Morgan Harrington’s murder and abduction from the University of Virginia's campus in Charlottesville last October made the national news. The sexual assault and abduction of a woman along Jermantown Road in the City of Fairfax got less attention in 2005.

But four months ago, Virginia State Police announced a potential link between the two cases. Investigators had discovered that DNA found in the Harrington case might come from the same person as that found on the woman who had survived the Fairfax attack five years earlier.

Shortly after her assault, the Fairfax survivor provided enough detail about her attacker for detectives to create a composite sketch of the perpetrator. But the case was never solved and a suspect's name has never publicly surfaced. The woman then moved out of the Fairfax area following the attack.

Still, the five-year old composite sketch was a major breakthrough for the Harrington case, where police had less information to go on since the victim is deceased. Officials notified the public about the potential link between the two cases at the beginning of July.

A student at Virginia Tech, Harrington, 20, was visiting Charlottesville for a heavy metal concert the night she disappeared. Three months later, her body was found buried on a remote farm in Albemarle County. Like the Fairfax case, no suspects have been named or arrested so far in connection with Harrington's killing.

"We remain hopeful but we still don't know who did it," said Dan Harrington, the victim's father.

MORGAN HARRINGTON'S family and friends are trying to keep her murder in the media spotlight, particularly since her attacker is still at large.

Dan and his wife Gil Harrington participated in a Nov. 6 road trip from Roanoke, where Harrington grew up, to Charlottesville and then to the City of Fairfax. In each of the three locations, they stopped and distributed flyers that included the composite sketch of the Fairfax attacker.

They made a special point to hand out information at a Giant supermarket on Jermantown Road, since the Fairfax victim had been walking back from that supermarket the night she was abducted.

"Enough time has past [since the Fairfax attack] for people to have grown complacent here,” said Dan Harrington, a Virginia Tech faculty member. “We are not content to just sit by and wait for him to commit another crime.”
It is likely that Harrington's perpetrator has attacked other women besides the survivor of the Fairfax attack, said Gil Harrington.

"You don't just abduct, rape and almost murder a woman one day and then wait five years before you do it again,” she said. “He didn't go out and join the church choir during that time. A woman who was reluctant to come forward before might see this.”

If the Harringtons are able to identify the man who attacked their daughter before he hurts someone else, it would give them a little bit more comfort about her death overall.

"We want a positive legacy for Morgan. We want him to know that, in killing her, he did not erase her," said Gil Harrington.

Kenny Jarels, who also lives in Roanoke, has helped the Harringtons raise awareness about their daughter's death over the past year. He said it is important to distribute the composite sketch of Harrington's potential attacker several different parts of the commonwealth.

"This guy has got to live somewhere and he has got to eat. Some knows this individual and has hired him at some point in time," said Jarels, who also works at Virginia Tech.

"We have hit Roanoke and Charlottesville extremely hard but we haven't gotten the word out as much up here," said Jarels, who helped organize the road trip from Southwest Virginia.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2010, 05:28:42 AM by MuffyBee » Logged

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« Reply #278 on: November 16, 2010, 02:26:28 PM »

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-familial-dna-solving-crimes,0,1415696.story
Familial DNA and Solving Crimes
Tracy Sears
Staff reporter
November 16, 2010
RICHMOND — Should the DNA of family members be used to track down dangerous criminals? The controversial practice was the subject before a legislative panel at the State Capitol on Monday. Police can use familial DNA searches to identify criminal suspects using genetic materials from their relatives.

The Virginia Crime Commission heard from proponents of familial DNA testing in Colorado and California, the only two states that currently uses such testing. Lawmakers also heard testimony from Dr. Dan Harrrigton, the father of a murdered Virginia Tech student. Morgan Harrington disappeared 18 months ago after leaving a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Her remains were found last January on a 700 acre farm, six miles south of the University of Virginia. "Although nothing we do can ever bring back our daughter, with luck and science, we hope the person who killed our daughter will be brought to justice," says Harrington. Harrington says police have linked Morgan's murder to a brutal rape in Fairfax in 2005. However, there's no suspect in Virginia's DNA database that matches.
California forensic expert Rockne Harmon and Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey testified about the advantages of using familial DNA in their respective states. Harmon says it helped catch Los Angeles's notorious " Grim Sleeper," a serial killer responsible for the deaths of 11 women. Lonnie David Franklin evaded police for two decades, until July, when familial DNA taken from Franklin's son after his arrest, led police to Franklin. Harmon argued, "It would not have been solved any other way!"

Harmon says familial DNA could also help bring the alleged "East Coast Rapist" to justice in Virginia. Police believe the rapist is responsible for 13 sexual assaults in four states, including the attacks on three young girls last Halloween in Prince William County.

Mitch Morrissey offered to share Colorado's software with Virginia, and to help train forensic specialists free of charge. Both men testified the cost to conduct familial DNA testing is between 2 and 7 thousand per case. Both also say allegations that the testing targets innocent people are unfounded. Morrissey and Harmon both argued the science is so precise, it's unlikely to produce a false match.

Dr. Harrington says familial DNA testing might not help solve his daughter's murder, but it could shed light on several unsolved brutal crimes across the state.
 



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« Reply #279 on: November 16, 2010, 02:27:45 PM »

2 4 1 Justice For Morgan
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