DNA links Lafayette man to 1989 slaying

By RICHARD BURGESS

LAFAYETTE — Detectives booked a Lafayette man on murder charges Thursday after he was linked to a 17-year-old homicide by DNA evidence, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.

Daniel Harman, 37, of Lafayette was booked Thursday on charges of first-degree murder and failure to register as a sex offender.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Craig Stansbury said cold-case investigators linked Harman by DNA evidence to the 1989 shooting death of 19-year-old Christine Woods.

Woods’ body was discovered in July 1989 in her burned-out apartment on Marigny Circle. An autopsy revealed that she had died not from the fire but from multiple gunshot wounds, Stansbury said.

Stansbury said he was uncertain whether there was ever a suspect at the time.

“We had no idea,” said Monique Hebert, who described herself as Woods’ best friend and former roommate. “We had been so clueless for all these years.”

Hebert said Woods was dating her brother and that she, her brother and Woods had moved from the New Orleans area to Lafayette about a year before Woods was killed.

“We lived in the same apartment,” Hebert said. “I just happened to be out-of-town.”

Hebert said Woods had been her best friend since sixth grade and was pursuing training for clerical work.

“And she was a singer. She loved to sing,” Hebert said.

Stansbury said DNA evidence preserved from the original investigation was recently submitted for comparison with DNA in a national database.

Harman’s DNA was in the database because it had been collected in Tennessee, where he had been incarcerated for a sex offense, Stansbury said.

Stansbury did not know details of that crime, and officials with the Tennessee Department of Correction could not be reached for comment.

Detectives arrested Harman Thursday morning at a residence on Lyons Street in Lafayette, Stansbury said.

He is being held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center without bond.

Stansbury said he knows of no connection between Harman and Woods.