Law enforcement agencies of Alaska claim that used DNA of relatives to track down a suspect in the murder that occurred nearly 26 years ago in a College Dorm.
26 APR 1993 Sophie Sergi was found raped and murdered in the bathroom of the dormitory in University of Alaska Fairbanks. It was hit several times with a knife and shot in the head.
At the scene was discovered the suspect’s DNA, which was uploaded to CODIS (the combined index system DNA database law enforcement), but a match was not.
Decades passed without any some suspicions, but in April of 2018, the business moved from a dead point. After the technology of genetic profiling helped in the arrest in the case «Killers of the Golden state» in California, police in Alaska have also decided to try this method. And it worked!
According to the indictment document, the DNA left behind after a sexual assault Sergi, prinadlejala Stephen Downs, working as a nurse. The man was taken into custody Friday without resistance in Maine.
«The downs have not previously been arrested, and his DNA was never loaded in the national database», — stated in the document, so it is found through DNA relatives.
In 1993, the downs, who is now 44, was an 18-year-old student at the University of Alaska Fairbank and lived in the same building, where they found Sergi.
«While nothing can cure this loss, we hope that this arrest today will bring some element of peace in the family Sergi,» — said at a press conference on Friday, the Commissioner of the Department of public safety Amanda Price.
«Justice for Sophie to finally achieve, — added Colonel Barry Wilson, Director of the police of the state of Alaska. — I have the honour and humility to end the suffering of the family, Sophie.»
Sophie Sergi. Source: Alaska State Troopers
Against the downs was charged with first-degree murder and sexual violence. According to court records, he is being held at the Androscoggin County Jail without bail pending extradition to Alaska.
