Noway
Montana
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2008
- Messages
- 5,757
- Reaction score
- 10
DNA matches death-row inmate to cold case of Montana woman, police say
Posted: Friday, February 26, 2010 12:00 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) DNA ties a California death row inmate convicted in the killings of seven hikers to the unsolved 1979 slaying of a Montana woman in a San Francisco park, police said.
Cold-case Inspector Joe Toomey said Tuesday that DNA evidence in the stabbing of 23-year-old Mary Bennett matched a sample belonging to David Joseph Carpenter.
Prosecutors havent decided whether to file new charges against the 79-year-old San Quentin State Prison inmate.
Bennett grew up in Deer Lodge, and had recently moved to San Francisco, where she was an intern at an accounting firm at the time of her death.
Her siblings still live in Montana. Toomey said the family was relieved at the DNA find, but I think it was a shock that we called them out of the blue.
I guess its nice that they know for sure and its put to rest, Bennett told the San Francisco Chronicle. Im glad they have the person and hes incarcerated.
Carpenter became known as the trailside killer after the murders of seven hikers in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s. He was sentenced to death for the killings twice in separate trials.
Investigators long suspected Carpenter in Bennetts slaying but were never able to bring a case against him. Toomey did not specify what evidence contained the DNA connecting Carpenter to Bennetts killing.
A message left with the prison seeking the name of Carpenters current attorney was not immediately returned late Tuesday.
Carpenter was convicted of shooting five people to death in 1980 at Point Reyes National Seashore and Mount Tamalpais, both in Marin County. Prosecutors said he shot his female victims in the head after they refused his sexual advances. Officials say Bennett had been stabbed at least 25 times.
More at http://www.helenair.com/news/article_eb60d4e0-229b-11df-b0eb-001cc4c002e0.html
Posted: Friday, February 26, 2010 12:00 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) DNA ties a California death row inmate convicted in the killings of seven hikers to the unsolved 1979 slaying of a Montana woman in a San Francisco park, police said.
Cold-case Inspector Joe Toomey said Tuesday that DNA evidence in the stabbing of 23-year-old Mary Bennett matched a sample belonging to David Joseph Carpenter.
Prosecutors havent decided whether to file new charges against the 79-year-old San Quentin State Prison inmate.
Bennett grew up in Deer Lodge, and had recently moved to San Francisco, where she was an intern at an accounting firm at the time of her death.
Her siblings still live in Montana. Toomey said the family was relieved at the DNA find, but I think it was a shock that we called them out of the blue.
I guess its nice that they know for sure and its put to rest, Bennett told the San Francisco Chronicle. Im glad they have the person and hes incarcerated.
Carpenter became known as the trailside killer after the murders of seven hikers in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s. He was sentenced to death for the killings twice in separate trials.
Investigators long suspected Carpenter in Bennetts slaying but were never able to bring a case against him. Toomey did not specify what evidence contained the DNA connecting Carpenter to Bennetts killing.
A message left with the prison seeking the name of Carpenters current attorney was not immediately returned late Tuesday.
Carpenter was convicted of shooting five people to death in 1980 at Point Reyes National Seashore and Mount Tamalpais, both in Marin County. Prosecutors said he shot his female victims in the head after they refused his sexual advances. Officials say Bennett had been stabbed at least 25 times.
More at http://www.helenair.com/news/article_eb60d4e0-229b-11df-b0eb-001cc4c002e0.html
