Police: DNA links Monroe-area man to 1990 murder

September 29, 2005, 9:36 AM

MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- An area man has been charged in the 1990 slaying of a 25-year-old woman after police say a new DNA analysis linked him to the crime.

Michael Charles Bates, 41, was arraigned Wednesday and ordered held without bond on a charge of open murder in the death of Connie Renee Baker.

Detective Dave Davison, who has been involved with the case for about eight years, said evidence collected 15 years ago was recently analyzed with new DNA technology. The results linked Bates to the crime, he told The Monroe Evening News.

Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield said he is confident the case will soon be closed.

"In our eyes, it has been resolved," Crutchfield said. "I have nothing but admiration for Detective Davison's persistence on this case. Had it not been for his tenacity, it probably would not have been solved."

Bates' connection to Baker remains unclear. On the night of Baker's death, three men were seen with her hours before she was found along a Monroe Township road with a knife wound through her heart.

In March 2004, Bates was convicted of a felony. His DNA was collected and placed into the system. Once the lab analyzed the DNA in the Baker case, technicians were able to make a match.

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Information from: The Monroe Evening News, http://www.monroenews.com