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DNA Evidence

COLD CASE: Philly Man Found Dead Off Turnpike In Lancaster County COLD CASE: Philly Man Found Dead Off Turnpike In Lancaster County
Cold CASE: Philly Man Found Dead Off Turnpike In Lancaster County State police investigators hope to shed new light on the 1991 murder of a West Philadelphia man.  Derek Michael Mason was last seen leaving his South 39th Street home in October of that year, according to troopers.  His remains were discovered off the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Clay Township, Lancaster County in January 1992. Authorities determined that he had been murdered, but it took until 2023 to identify him using DNA evidence, police say.  Mason was known by the nicknames "Hawkeye" and "Hawk." State police said there is an upcoming block party in Mason's old neighborhoo…
Carjacker Who Threatened To Inject Victims With Syringe Sentenced: Bucks DA Carjacker Who Threatened To Inject Victims With Syringe Sentenced: Bucks DA
Carjacker Who Threatened To Inject Victims With Syringe Sentenced: Bucks DA A convicted carjacker who brandished a syringe during a string of Bucks County thefts will spend up to two decades in prison, according to prosecutors.  The District Attorney's Office said Monday that Kevin O’Connell was sentenced to 11 to 25 years in prison. He previously pleaded no contest to multiple counts including robbery of a motor vehicle and terroristic threats, authorities said.  Investigators have said O'Connell stole an elderly woman's 2007 Toyota Camry in Bristol Borough in August 2022.  Prosecutors said the victim was walking back to her car after an …
Bandana Left At Gas Station 14+ Years Ago Leads To Arrest: PA State Police Bandana Left At Gas Station 14+ Years Ago Leads To Arrest: PA State Police
Bandana Left At Gas Station 14+ Years Ago Leads To Arrest: PA State Police A 32-year-old man was charged and arrested with a robbery he allegedly committed in 2010 – all because of a bandana, Pennsylvania State Police announced on Wednesday, May 2, 2024.  Alexander Theodule Pelletier, of Williamsport, Lycoming County was arrested on April 30 in connection with a robbery at Shelocta BP convenience store along PA Route 422 in Armstrong Township, Indiana County, troopers explained in the release.  PSP Troop A patrol members and criminal investigators were called to the gas station at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2010, as detailed in the release.  …
Florida Man Wanted For Murder Commits Suicide In PA Prison: Authorities Florida Man Wanted For Murder Commits Suicide In PA Prison: Authorities
Florida Man Wanted For Murder Commits Suicide In PA Prison: Authorities A 21-year-old man wanted on murder charges in Florida took his own life in a Pennsylvania prison, authorities announced on Wednesday. Isaiah Xavier Mesadieu formerly of Hollywood, FL most recently of Harrisburg and Middletown, PA, died of asphyxiation by hanging in the York County Prison and was pronounced dead at 4:47 p.m., Jan. 23, according to the county coroner's office. Mesadieu was first arrested in Pennsylvania for a summary offense of harassment in Dauphin County, on June 21, 2023, court records show.  After pleading guilty on July 5, he was released but was arrested agai…
Infant Child Porn Among 2K+ Images Found On Manheim Man Also Charged In Cold Case: DA Infant Child Porn Among 2K+ Images Found On Manheim Man Also Charged In Cold Case: DA
Infant Child Porn Among 2K+ Images Found On Manheim Man Also Charged In Cold Case: DA A search warrant at the home of a man — charged in a cold case of sexual assault of two children — led the Pennsylvania State Police to over two thousand images of child pornography, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday, Jan. 23.  Eric Dorwart, 54, of the 500 block of Pleasure Road in Manheim Township has been charged for the second time in three months for sexually assaulting children, the DA explained.  Dorwart was matched by DNA to the cold case assault of a boy and girl on West Newport Road, Gordonville, Leacock on April 4th, 1997, acc…
DNA Matches Lititz 18-Year-Old To Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl: Police DNA Matches Lititz 18-Year-Old To Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl: Police
DNA Matches Lititz 18-Year-Old To Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl: Police A Lititz teen has been charged in connection with the rape of a younger teenage girl, Northern Lancaster Regional Police announced on Jan. 1, 2024.  Elyas Ryan Hoag, 18, was identified as the suspect through evidence including a DNA match, according to the police.  NLCRPD detectives began their investigation into the incident after the 15-year-old girl's rape in the first block of Apple Hill Drive Warwick Township was reported at 12:48 a.m. on April 11, 2023. The DNA samples and additional evidence was reviewed the caseby Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office and the …
Convicted PA Burglar, Attempting Rape Leaves Shoes At Crime Scene: Police Convicted PA Burglar, Attempting Rape Leaves Shoes At Crime Scene: Police
Convicted PA Burglar, Attempting Rape Leaves Shoes At Crime Scene: Police This is no Cinderella story, but the shoes left behind at a crime scene were a clue helping officials track down their suspect.  Mohamed Camara has waived his right to a preliminary hearing following a horrifying burglar and assault, the Lancaster District Attorney's Office explained and court records confirmed.  Camara of the 500 block of Saint Joseph Street, allegedly broke into a home in the 400 block of Fremont Street and another in the 500 block of Manor St. in Lancaster City in the early morning of Nov. 16, 2023.  At 6:22 a.m. on Fremont Street, a woman — who had fallen back asleep a…
DNA On Tie-Dye Towel Links PA Man To Assault Of Family Member, Police Say DNA On Tie-Dye Towel Links PA Man To Assault Of Family Member, Police Say
DNA On Tie-Dye Towel Links PA Man To Assault Of Family Member, Police Say A 38-year-old man has been charged after a towel linked him to months of sexual assaults with a young family member, police announced on Monday, Oct. 23.  Around 11:40 a.m. on May 21, 2023, a girl under the age of 16 and her mom reached out to the Lower Allen Township Police Department to inform them "that a family member, John Heinrich George II, had been sexually assaulting her for the last two months," as stated in the release.  The incidents happened in Camp Hill beginning on March 2, 2023, according to court documents.  During the girl's meeting with the police she "rev…
Nearly 50 Years Later Cold Case Killing Of Central PA Newly Wed Solved: DA Nearly 50 Years Later Cold Case Killing Of Central PA Newly Wed Solved: DA
Nearly 50 Years Later Cold Case Killing Of Central PA Newly Wed Solved: DA In 1975 a 19-year-old newlywed was brutally murdered, but thanks to DNA evidence her alleged killer has been revealed, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams announced. Lancaster County's oldest cold case homicide was that of Lindy Sue Biechler whose "life was brutally taken away from her 46 years ago in the sanctity of her own home," DA Adams said.  David Vincent Sinopoli, now 69 of the 300 block of Faulkner Drive, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and burglary in connection with Biechler's death on Thursday, Oct. 19.  His plea comes …
DNA On Coffee Cup Lid Matches Man To Child Sexual Assaults: PA State Police DNA On Coffee Cup Lid Matches Man To Child Sexual Assaults: PA State Police
DNA On Coffee Cup Lid Matches Man To Child Sexual Assaults: PA State Police A 54-year-old man is behind bars decades after he allegedly sexually assaulted two children— all thanks to a coffee cup, according to Pennsylvania State Police.  Eric Dorwart of Manheim was matched through DNA evidence to the sexual assault of two children under the age of 13, PSP on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.  The young boy and girl had been playing near their home on West Newport Road on April 4th, 1997, when the man in light blue work van with a ladder of the back approached them and sexually assaulted them, the police detailed in charging documents. The man left semen on the c…
Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender
Man Who Raped, Murdered 85-Year-Old Relative Not Sex Offender Nearly 35 years after then-24-year-old Christopher Joseph Larry Speelman raped and murdered his 85-year-old relative, he has finally been sentenced— but he's not a sex offender, according to the court.  Now, 59, Speelman has been sentenced to spend the next 25 to 50 years in prison by Judge Thomas Campbell after pleading guilty to murder in the third degree, burglary, and a no contest to rape, according to Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett. Speelman confessed raping and then smothering Edna Laughman with a pillow at her home in the 1500 block of Carlisle Pike, Oxford Townsh…
'Zombie Hunter' Who Beheaded PA Woman Sentenced To Death: DA 'Zombie Hunter' Who Beheaded PA Woman Sentenced To Death: DA
'Zombie Hunter' Who Beheaded PA Woman Sentenced To Death: DA An Amazon delivery driver by day and self-described "zombie hunter" at night has been sentenced to death.  Bryan Patrick Miller a 49-year-old Arizonan pleaded insanity with a lawyer who used a "Jekyll and Hyde" defense during a trial over the brutal stabbing and beheading deaths of two young women— including a 21-year-old from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, according to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. Miller, also dubbed the "Canal Killer", was "found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, dangerous class one felonies, two counts of kidnapping, class two dangero…
Ex-YMCA Employee Who Ditched Daughter In PA YMCA Dumpster Learns Her Fate: DA Ex-YMCA Employee Who Ditched Daughter In PA YMCA Dumpster Learns Her Fate: DA
Ex-ymca Employee Who Ditched Daughter In PA YMCA Dumpster Learns Her Fate: DA A former YMCA employee who ditched her daughter in the organization's dumpster in Lancaster in 2007 has been convicted and sentenced, the District Attorney announced on May 24, 2023.  DNA evidence linked Tara Indrakosit Brazzle, 44, of Valparaiso, Indiana (formerly of Lancaster, Pennsylvania) to the baby girl, according to the DA.  She was arrested in California in 2021 for "infanticide by asphyxiation," as Daily Voice previously reported.  "Baby Mary Ann", was 36 weeks old when she was found in the 500 block of North Queen Street in 2007, the DA explained.  Brazz…