DNA cracks 14-year-old murder case
Jason
DNA cracks 14-year-old murder case
Blood sample links suspect to crime scene, police say
By Randy Dotinga
APBNEWS.COM
DEL MAR, Calif., Jan. 3 — In life, scientist Helena Greenwood liked to
dream about how the use of DNA to solve murder mysteries could be a path
to profit for her company. Now, 14 years after someone strangled her,
police say DNA has led them to her killer.
LAST MONTH, detectives arrested a Northern California man and
charged him with the 1985 murder of Greenwood, who was a 35-year-old
marketing executive with a San Diego genetics firm.
Prosecutors say the suspect’s blood matches a tissue sample found
at the crime scene in this wealthy seaside enclave north of San Diego.
The suspect, who says he is innocent, might face the death penalty.
Detectives reopened the murder investigation this year as part of
an effort to resurrect so-called “cold cases.” Police departments
throughout the country have been focusing on cold cases as the murder
rate has dropped in recent years.
Greenwood’s body was found in the front yard of her home Aug. 22,
1985. She was discovered by her husband, Roger Franklin, who has since
died.
Greenwood and Franklin were from England and immigrated to the
United States in 1977. Greenwood had a doctorate in biochemistry from
the University of London, police said.
Shortly before her death, she began working at Gen-Probe, a new
biotechnology company that investigated cutting-edge ways to use DNA.
“It was her job to help us set the direction of marketing and
choose which business areas to go into,” said Daniel Kacian, senior vice
president of Gen-Probe. “One of the areas we talked about was DNA
forensics. It was an area she felt had great promise for DNA
technology.”
Greenwood “was a very kind person, very professional, and she had
a great deal of expertise in her field,” Kacian said. “We greatly felt
her loss on a personal level and on a professional level.”
Gen-Probe continues to work in the DNA field and now focuses on
diagnostic technology involving infectious diseases.
Police say Greenwood’s murder was not her first run-in with her
alleged killer.
ASSAULT CONVICTIONS
A year earlier, Greenwood was assaulted during a burglary at her
home in Atherton, near San Francisco. Her husband was not home at the
time.
David Frediani, now 45, was arrested in the assault, and
Greenwood testified in a preliminary court hearing.
After Greenwood’s death, Frediani was twice convicted of assault
and burglary, but the verdicts were appealed and overturned.
Before the third trial was to begin, Frediani pleaded no contest
and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Frediani now works as an analyst with the Pacific Bell phone
company. Sheriff’s detectives suspected Frediani after Greenwood’s
murder, especially because he was in the Southern California area just a
week after her death. But the case remained unsolved.
MATCHING DNA
Last year, Detective Laura Heilig of the San Diego County
Sheriff’s Department reopened the case.
She submitted a substance discovered at the crime scene to a
forensic expert who determined that it was human tissue. A sample of
Frediani’s dried blood matched the DNA of the human tissue, the
sheriff’s department said.
The case “certainly points out the power of this new technology
[of DNA] and its application in this area,” Kacian said.
Frediani was arrested in the Northern California city of
Burlingame Dec. 15 and transported to Vista, Calif., where he was put in
jail. His arraignment was twice scheduled this week, but was postponed
to give him time to hire an attorney.
Frediani has been charged with the murder of a witness, a
“special circumstance” charge that makes him eligible for the death
penalty in California.
The San Diego County district attorney ultimately will make the
decision about whether to pursue the death penalty.
Frediani has not yet entered a plea. David Bartick, a lawyer in
negotiations to become Frediani’s attorney, appeared for him at a court
hearing. Outside the courtroom, he said Frediani did not commit the
murder. “He has adamantly denied these charges for 14 years,” Bartick
said.
Randy Dotinga is an APBnews.com West Coast correspondent based in
San Diego.