Holly Staker, 11, was brutally raped and murdered in Waukegan in 1992. (Credit: CBS) <\/p>\n
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) \u2014 The FBI is not going to be checking a DNA profile in a nearly 20-year old Chicago area murder case that reopened last month. <\/p>\n
As WBBM Newsradio\u2019s Bernie Tafoya reports, the murder case of Holly Staker, 11, of Waukegan, was reopened last month after a judge ordered the man convicted of killing her to be freed from prison. Juan Rivera was freed partly because of DNA evidence. <\/p>\n
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio\u2019s Bernie Tafoya reports <\/p>\n
But the Chicago Tribune reports that because the DNA profiling was conducted by a California lab that is not accredited by the federal government, the FBI will not be running the profile through its computers. The FBI system contains DNA information on more than 10 million people. <\/p>\n
The Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University criticized the FBI\u2019s stance. One of its attorneys , Jane Raley, told the Tribune that the DNA has provided the genetic fingerprint of Staker\u2019s killer, and all they need is his identity. <\/p>\n
Staker was fatally stabbed and sexually assaulted while babysitting two younger children on Aug. 17, 1992. Investigators had always thought they had the killer, Juan Rivera, who had confessed after a long interrogation, but whose DNA was not a match. <\/p>\n
Rivera was convicted three times \u2013 in 1993, 1998 and 2009 \u2013 but his conviction was overturned each and every time. <\/p>\n
Last month, Rivera walked out of Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet after being locked up for 19 years. <\/p>\n
Rivera\u2019s 2009 conviction was \u201cunjustified and cannot stand\u201d because of a lack of evidence tying him to Staker\u2019s rape and murder, the 2nd District Appellate Court panel said in its 3-0 ruling in December. <\/p>\n
Lake County prosecutors decided not to challenge the decision, and the Center on Wrongful Convictions volunteered to help find the real killer. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The rest is here: Holly Staker, 11, was brutally raped and murdered in Waukegan in 1992. (Credit: CBS) WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) \u2014 The FBI is not going to be checking a DNA profile in a nearly 20-year old Chicago area murder case that reopened last month Continue reading
\nFBI Won\u2019t Check DNA Profile In 20-Year-Old Murder Case<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"