According to police authorities, Curtis L. Vance of Marianna - who is charged in the slaying of a Little Rock television anchorwoman, Anne Pressly - is also wanted in a rape near his hometown.
Police officials disclosed on Friday that detectives from Little Rock had interviewed Vance after learning he had been questioned by officers there in a rape near his home on April 21. Detective Sgt. Carl D. McCree of the Marianna police said that a warrant has been issued for Vance’s arrest in the rape case.
The police are clueless about where Vance spotted Pressly, why he chose her as a victim, or what prompted the savage attack. Lt. Terry Hastings, a Little Rock police spokesman, said: “Vance was not stalking Pressly. We don’t know for sure, but we think the motive is going to be robbery.”
Pressly, 26, a regular on the “Daybreak” program of KATV, was found beaten and bloody on October 20 – in her rented cottage-style home in the affluent Pulaski Heights neighborhood - by her mother. Her features distorted by what the police have called blunt force trauma, Pressly died five days later without regaining consciousness.
Hastings also said the case against Vance “was made off of forensics” - DNA taken from Vance during the investigation matched the DNA gathered into the April sexual assault of a schoolteacher in Marianna, 90 miles east of Little Rock. Hastings explained that scientists at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory tied forensic material from Marianna, including DNA, to evidence collected from Pressly’s home.
However, Hastings declined to say how police obtained the evidence - whether it was willingly given by Vance or taken without his knowledge.
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Not All DNA Testing Created Equal
The Courts are convinced DNA evidence is absolute certainty. IT IS NOT. The DNA profiles use a small part of our DNA.
Raymond Easton suffers from Parkinson's disease. By the year 2000 he was so disabled that he could not manage to dress himself alone.
In spite of this he was charged with a burglary which had taken place 200 miles away from his home.
Three years earlier Raymond was involved in a family dispute. He had been cautioned and a DNA sample was taken. Raymond's DNA matched that found at the scene of the burglary.
Fortunately DNA testing offered a way out of the situation it had created. Once a fuller DNA analysis was made, differences between Raymond's DNA and that of the burglar became clear and the charges against him were dropped.
Despite its increased resolution, DNA profiling is often not enough.
Mark Benecke, one of Europe's leading consultant forensic biologists,based in Cologne, Germany, said, "Wrongful convictions can only be made if DNA is looked upon as the only evidence."
The integration of different sources of forensic evidence and their combination with investigative and legal procedures are even more significant than progress in any single field, such as DNA testing.