OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The loss of life penalty trial for accused serial killer William Lewis Reece within the 1997 homicide of Tiffany Johnston continued Friday afternoon within the Oklahoma County Courthouse.
On day 4 of the trial, jurors acquired a crash course on DNA testing and heard from two DNA analysts and the Texas Ranger who obtained the pattern from Reece.
The 19-year-old vanished from the Sunshine Automotive Wash in Bethany. Her white dodge neon was nonetheless within the cleansing stall and her matts have been nonetheless hanging up on the wall.
The subsequent day, her physique was discovered bare in a Canadian County area.
The health worker beforehand informed the jury she took vaginal and rectal swabs earlier than sealing it into proof.
Attorneys on either side and witnesses identified DNA expertise was simply starting in 1997 and wasn’t as dependable to level out a suspect.
After an exhaustive seek for potential suspects, the Johnston’s homicide case went chilly and significant DNA puzzle items pale away.
The scientists who processed the 13-year-old DNA when the case was reopened in 2013 took the witness stand Friday. She informed the jury she might solely pull some data from the samples to make a partial profile.
A former Texas Ranger additionally testified Friday. He informed the jury on the time Reece was already on the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s radar. The bureau reached out to him asking if he might acquire a buckle swab from Reece, who was presently serving a 60-year sentence in a Texas jail for kidnapping a lady at knifepoint.
The change was all captured on audio tape. Jurors have been capable of hear Reece voluntarily giving the ranger a pattern.
The Texas Ranger is also heard telling Reece investigators already knew he had been in Oklahoma across the time of Johnston’s homicide primarily based on calling card information.
Reece can ultimately be heard recalling being within the state on the time and allegedly had a relationship with Johnston’s mom, however by no means met or noticed footage of Johnston.
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Again on the DNA testing lab, OSBI investigators in contrast Reece’s DNA to the unknown pattern. The investigator testified the entire recognized puzzle items matched up with Reece’s direct pattern. Throughout her testimony, the investigator seen it was not a 100% match, however Reece couldn’t be excluded as a potential suspect.
In the meantime, Reece can be linked to 3 different murders in Texas. The entire victims have been round Johnston’s age and murdered across the similar time.
To date, prosecutors have referred to as round 20 witnesses within the trial.
Extra are anticipated on Monday when the trial begins again up once more at 9 a.m.
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