MANATEE -- DNA of Delmer Smith, whose murder trial begins with jury selection at 9 a.m. today, was not found in the Terra Ceia home of Kathleen Briles who was allegedly bludgeoned to death Aug. 3, 2009 with an antique sewing machine. <\/p>\n
His DNA was, however, found in four Sarasota homes he allegedly robbed, attacking the women who lived there, prior to Briles' death. <\/p>\n
The only problem was police could not identify the person behind the attacks because the DNA was not logged in the FBI's database. <\/p>\n
Smith's DNA was taken in March 2008 while he was serving time in federal prison for a bank robbery. It was placed with thousands of other DNA samples waiting to be processed by the FBI. <\/p>\n
When the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office sent off the DNA found at crime scenes on Feb. 22, March 7, March 14 and May 22, no matches were found. <\/p>\n
Smith was first identified as the suspect in more than 10 home invasion robberies in Manatee and Sarasota counties after he got into a bar fight in Venice. Because he was on probation police searched his belongings, finding several items allegedly stolen in the previous home invasions. <\/p>\n
Smith's DNA was fast-tracked into the system and matched the samples found at the Sarasota crime scenes. <\/p>\n
DNA does not play a role in the Briles' case, but local law enforcement agencies rely on it in many instances. <\/p>\n
\"We send DNA from crime scenes off for analysis all the time. It makes cases,\" said Manatee County Sher <\/p>\n
iff Brad Steube. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Originally posted here: MANATEE -- DNA of Delmer Smith, whose murder trial begins with jury selection at 9 a.m. today, was not found in the Terra Ceia home of Kathleen Briles who was allegedly bludgeoned to death Aug. Continue reading
\nFederal DNA backlog remains clear since September 2010<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"