He got away with a brutal, strangulation murder for 25 years. <\/p>\n
But yesterday, violent Harlem con Steven Carter was finally sent to prison thanks to his victim's fingernails clippings, which languished in evidence storage for a quarter century before being tested last year as part of the Manhattan DA's ongoing cold case DNA efforts. <\/p>\n
\"I'm sure he assumed he was home free,\" assistant district attorney Melissa Mourges said of Carter at his sentencing in Manhattan Supreme Court. <\/p>\n
It was Nov. 10, 1986 when victim Antoinette Bennett -- a drug-addicted prostitute -- was found sprawled face down among the children's climbing blocks in a playground at St. Nicolas Park. <\/p>\n
A crack pipe was wedged under her body, and her face had been stabbed three times prior to her being strangled. <\/p>\n
Carter \"pushed that sharp knife through her cheek all the way into her mouth,\" Mourges told Justice Bonnie Wittner, in arguing for the 25-to-life sentence. <\/p>\n
\"The medical examiner used the words 'Torture and control' to explain the purpose of these wounds,\" the prosecutor said. <\/p>\n
Carter left his DNA under a fingernail on Bennet's left hand so long ago, that testing couldn't have linked him then to the crime. <\/p>\n
DNA tests were only done on the clippings last year by DA Cyrus Vance's Forensic Sciences\/Cold Case Unit, as \"Part of a systematic review of more than 3,000 unsolved case files dating back to the '70s,\" he explained in a post-sentence statement. <\/p>\n
The fingernail DNA matched the now 50-year-old Carter, whose DNA had been databased as a result of his lengthy, 26-conviction record, including for weapons and sex crimes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
View post: He got away with a brutal, strangulation murder for 25 years. But yesterday, violent Harlem con Steven Carter was finally sent to prison thanks to his victim's fingernails clippings, which languished in evidence storage for a quarter century before being tested last year as part of the Manhattan DA's ongoing cold case DNA efforts Continue reading
\nDNA \u2018nails\u2019 1986 slayer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"