DNA identifies slaying suspect

By Topher Sanders

TROY -- DNA has identified a suspect in a 13-year-old case involving the rape and murder of a 74-year-old woman, authorities announced Friday.

Edna Reeves was found dead inside her home in the Springfield community in August 1993. Authorities had been unable to identify a suspect until DNA from the crime scene matched a profile in the FBI's National DNA Database.

"We now feel certain we can prove the identity of the person responsible," said Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas, who refused to identify the suspect.

Reeves' granddaughter, Laura Campbell, applauded the work of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.

"We had all been told that our greatest hope was DNA evidence and they were right," she said.

A DNA sample from the suspect still is needed to confirm the match, said Angelo Della Manna, the department's chief of Forensic Biology & DNA.

A $2 million grant from the National Institute of Justice allows the department to work on cold cases.

"The sample from this guy was in the backlog and it was only tested because we had the federal funding to do so," Della Manna said. "If it weren't for that federal money, his sample would still be sitting on the shelf today and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Alabama's forensic scientists have received about 840 DNA hits since the mid-1990s, aiding more than 1,000 investigations. They added 75,000 entries into the national database in 2005.

The Reeves case motivated the department -- so much so that the scientists hung pictures of Reeves in their Montgomery and Birmingham offices.

"We have kept her photo in the hope that we could one day identify the perpetrator," said Della Manna. "And we are happy that we were able to do so."

Reeves' granddaughter said the news will help her family to continue healing.

"This is a wonderful surprise this morning," Campbell said. "She was everything that people talk about a grandmother being."