A 65-year-old man was arrested in connection to a murder case dating back over three decades, all because he spat outside his house. DNA from James Holloman’s saliva led to his arrest for the murder of a woman in 1988. Although police had found a cheque bearing Holloman’s name near Karen Taylor’s body, they were unable to link him to the crime through forensic evidence at the time, CBS reported.
Last year, Holloman spat on the sidewalk outside his Boston residence. Authorities collected his saliva and sent it for DNA testing. The results matched DNA from under Taylor’s fingernails, as well as from a sweatshirt and cigarette found near her body, according to officials who spoke to WCVB.
Boston police arrested Holloman on September 19. Holloman, who has no prior criminal record, will next appear before judges on October 29.
Holloman’s defence attorney raised concerns about the reliability of DNA evidence decades after Taylor’s death. He questioned the accuracy of the match.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden praised the detectives and prosecutors for their exceptional work, crediting modern forensic science for the breakthrough in the unsolved murder mystery.
“But most of all, it’s an opportunity for Karen Taylor’s loved ones to see someone answer for her death after so many years of unanswered questions,” he added.
What happened 36 years ago?
On May 27, 1988, Karen Taylor was discovered dead in her Roxbury apartment in Boston. She was just 25 years old at the time.
Her body was discovered after her mother called the apartment and the woman’s 3-year-old daughter answered the phone, telling her grandmother that her mother “was sleeping and she could not wake her up,” the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said in a statement, per WHDH.
Taylor’s mother rushed to her daughter’s apartment on Williams Street in Roxbury but couldn’t enter the building. She then climbed through a window into Taylor’s first-floor bedroom, where she found her daughter lying face-down in a pool of blood.
The autopsy revealed Taylor had been stabbed 15 times, suffering fatal wounds to her chest, head, and neck.
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