DNA samples don't match with man charged in Lunde killing

TAMPA, Fla. - DNA samples found in 13-year-old Sarah Lunde's mobile home don't match the sex offender who reportedly confessed to killing her last spring, but semen from her brother's 16-year-old friend was found on her comforter, newly released documents show.

Investigators couldn't find anyone else's DNA after taking swabs from Sarah's partly clad body, according to an analysis by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that was among court documents released Friday. But her body had started to decompose when found in a fish pond near her home April 16, which could have made it difficult to find DNA evidence.

The friend, whose name was being withheld because of his age and he wasn't charged, was with Sarah's brother Andrew the morning of April 10 when the girl vanished. Andrew, 18, told investigators the two had gone to Taco Bell about midnight and were gone for about three hours. When they returned to the mobile home, Sarah wasn't there, Andrew said.

David Onstott, a 37-year-old registered sex offender, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and attempted sexual battery. According to court records, Onstott told detectives he choked Sarah and said: "I did it. I'm guilty of murder." An autopsy found that Sarah died from crushing blows to the head.

A telephone listing for Andrew's friend could not be found Saturday, and prosecutors would not comment on the DNA results. But John Skye, a spokesman for the public defender's office, said the DNA findings "raise certain questions."

"People need to keep an open mind and wait until things work themselves out, and not jump to conclusions," Skye said.

Authorities also found blood on a sweatshirt, a bath towel and a baseball hat taken from Onstott's vehicle, though all matched Onstott's DNA. His DNA was also on a metal level investigators seized as a possible weapon.

No blood was found on two pieces of Sarah's fitted bedsheet or on the mobile home kitchen floor, and no foreign DNA was discovered on her fingernails. Andrew's DNA was found on one piece of the sheet, but the FDLE report does not specify the substance it came from.

On the other piece of the sheet, analysts found DNA from a male and a female. They could not identify the female, but concluded the male DNA does not match Onstott, Andrew's friend or any of Sarah's three brothers.

Authorities have never said publicly whether they think Onstott attempted to rape Sarah inside the mobile home.

Andrew told investigators Onstott showed up at their trailer in rural Ruskin between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. and asked for Sarah's mother, Kelly May, whom he previously dated.

When Onstott learned May wasn't home, he took a beer bottle and left, Andrew said. Andrew said the beer bottle wasn't there earlier, when Andrew left to get food for Sarah, and concluded Onstott must have been there while he and his friend were out.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Onstott. His next court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27.