DNA leads to arrest in 1972 rape and murder of S.F. nurse

A cold murder case was revived today when DNA analysis led to the arrest of a man suspected of raping and murdering a nurse in her apartment in San Francisco's Inner Sunset District police 33 years ago, San Francisco police announced Friday.

John Puckett, 71, was 38 when 25-year-old Diana Sylvester was murdered on Dec. 22, 1972. He was arrested in Stockton early Friday by investigators from the San Francisco and Stockton police departments after evidence found at the crime scene was analyzed using methods unavailable in 1972, linking him to Sylvester's death, according to police.

In the years since Sylvester was killed, California has required the collection of DNA evidence in serious felony cases, a change that has proven a great help to investigators, San Francisco Deputy Police Chief Morris Tabak said.

Just as fingerprints can be analyzed and matched in criminal investigations, police can now turn to the state's Combined DNA Index System to try and match the DNA profiles of suspects to profiles already in the system, he said.

It was this sort of evidence match, along with recent technological advances in analyzing crime scene evidence, that led to Puckett's arrest. His DNA was in CODIS because ``he's had a considerable criminal history in California,'' Tabak said.

Tabak said he believes cold case arrests will continue to get easier to crack because changes in the law mean there is more DNA entering the CODIS system.

``The beauty in this also is that even after 33 years we've brought closure to the family and justice to the victim,'' he added.

Puckett is being held on $3 million bail in San Francisco County Jail and will be arraigned Monday or Tuesday, Tabak said.

Puckett's DNA profile was created by the Forensic Biology Section of the San Francisco Police Department's Forensic Services Division.

Funding for `cold hit` analysis was made available through the California Department of Justice under the DNA Cold Hit Grant, according to San Francisco police.