Man accused in '68 killing freed by flaw in evidence

BY KAREN SUDOL

FREEHOLD — A murder charge has been dismissed because of unreliable DNA evidence against a man charged 35 years after the 1968 slaying of a 13-year-old girl, prosecutors announced.

Jerry Lee Bellamy, 54, is expected to be released from New Jersey State Prison, Trenton, within 24 hours, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said on Monday.

The Prosecutor's Office administratively dismissed the charges in court after determining that DNA evidence linking Bellamy to 13-year-old Jane Durrua's murder on a Middletown pathway on Nov. 4, 1968, was unreliable. State Police had determined the evidence was potentially cross-contaminated.

The Middletown eighth-grader had been raped, beaten and strangled as she walked home from a football game on a path along railroad tracks, authorities have said.

"Over the last few weeks, this office has worked tirelessly to obtain the information that was necessary to make a responsible decision about the continued prosecution of Jerry Lee Bellamy. At present, all reasonable investigative possibilities have been exhausted," Valentin said in a prepared statement. ". . . Therefore, I have no choice but to secure dismissal of the murder complaint. . . . It was my legal and ethical obligation to do so."

Bellamy's June 2004 arrest -- made while he was being held at a maximum-security facility for sex offenders at East Jersey State Prison in Woodbridge, days away from release for sex-crime charges unrelated to the homicide -- was based on DNA evidence from a semen stain on Durrua's underwear.

Unsolved for 30 years, the case was re-examined in 1998 to take advantage of advances in DNA testing. Durrua's underwear and a slip were submitted for forensic testing with the State Police.

Evidence undermined

But as prosecutors prepared for the case in January 2005, State Police gave them information that raised questions about the DNA match, Valentin said in the prepared statement. While prosecutors consulted with an independent DNA agency, the State Police conducted a thorough review of the results. A pre-grand jury interview this Jan. 12 with a witness authorities wouldn't identify produced more information that undermined the reliability of the DNA match, said Valentin, which prompted an intensive investigation by prosecutors. That investigation led to the decision to dismiss the charge.

By a fluke coincidence, the clothing from Durrua's case and clothing evidence from an Atlantic City rape case had both been examined on Sept. 15, 1999, by the same criminalistic scientist at the State Police's Eastern Regional Laboratory in Sea Girt, said State Police Lt. Col. Frank Rodgers, who oversees the State Police Office of Forensic Science. The scientist prepared Durrua's stain sample to be shipped to Orchid Cellmark Laboratories for DNA analysis, said Rodgers. That lab developed a DNA profile that matched Bellamy's.

That scientist learned only in January 2005 that the two samples he had prepared ultimately matched Bellamy's DNA profile. There was no way to know in 1999 that the cases were linked via Bellamy's DNA profile, Rodgers said.

The scientist immediately notified his supervisor of the coincidence and the concern about cross-contamination. The Prosecutor's Office was then contacted, Rodgers said.

"We worked for a year trying to establish one way or another (whether any of the evidence was cross-contaminated). Unfortunately we weren't able to determine whether it (Durrua's evidence) was or wasn't contaminated," he said.

Rodgers and State Police Capt. Al Della Fave said everyone was disappointed in the results.

"We'd give anything to be able to have this back and be able to reprocess it now under today's system," said Della Fave. "We're tremendously disappointed because the bottom line is . . . they said they can't say he did it but they can't say he didn't do it." He added, "No one on either side wanted to see him walk."

Rodgers said a similar case would not happen today because the State Police now have a new forensic lab in Hamilton, which is "entirely computerized and where every piece of evidence is bar-coded."

Evidence is processed and submitted to their own DNA lab for analysis, he said. Computers would immediately notify scientists of the same DNA profiles for two different cases.

The Atlantic City case

It's not clear if Bellamy's April 1999 charge for the rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Atlantic City motel room is the case in which State Police scientists were processing evidence. In that case, Bellamy pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but the state Supreme Court had ordered his guilty plea vacated for reasons that had nothing to do with DNA evidence.

Bellamy's lawyer, Regina Sauter, said the Office of the Public Defender notified him of the dismissed charge Monday. Sauter, who had not spoken directly to Bellamy, was not aware if he had been released Monday evening.

"We were told that the Prosecutor's Office had some concerns about the reliability of the DNA. It's my understanding that Prosecutor Valentin and (First Assistant Prosecutor) Peter Warshaw made whatever analysis they had to make. As far as my understanding, I think they acted very professionally and diligently and brought it to our attention and . . . did what they had to do."

Valentin said Durrua's family has been informed of the dismissal.

"They are an incredibly strong family," he said. "The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is extremely appreciative of their courtesy and support."

Jane Durrua's sister, Dolores R. Ramirez, declined to comment Monday evening.

Bellamy must comply with Megan's Law requirements because of his prior criminal record.

The murder investigation remains active, Valentin said.