DNA leads to arrest in 1991 slaying case

San Diego police have arrested a suspect in a 15-year-old murder case using DNA evidence, Lt. Mike Hurley said yesterday.

The Police Department's Cold Case Team, with help from the District Attorney's Office, tracked down Abdul Haleen Salaam, the man they say beat Lester Larson to death in 1991. Larson was 74 at the time.

Salaam, 51, was in prison for unrelated crimes, Hurley said. Salaam was taken Wednesday from a California prison in Jamestown to San Diego, where he was booked on suspicion of murder.

On Jan. 16, 1991, police officers responded to a report of a burglary at 2736 C St., Hurley said. Officers found a bloody and beaten Larson inside the home.

The investigation was stalled until last July, when DNA analyst Brian Burritt re-examined the evidence. Biological samples containing DNA evidence were found and a suspect DNA profile was entered into a criminal database.

Two months later, a DNA match linked Salaam to the homicide, Hurley said.