Prosecutor says DNA ties defendant to homicide

Physical evidence of rape discovered on the body of a 60-year-old prostitute found in the Lake Elsinore area connects a 27-year-old San Pedro man to her slaying, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

During opening statements, prosecutor John Davis said DNA links Eric Michael Denby to Emma Jean O'Keith's body, which was found off Nichols Road in the Lake Elsinore area in 2002.

Davis said Denby is familiar with southwest Riverside County because he spent time at a family-owned cabin in the Lake Elsinore area.

Denby could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder in connection with O'Keith's Feb. 16, 2002, stabbing death.

Denby's attorney, Eric Keen, said there is no proof showing where O'Keith was hired as a prostitute, when she met the man who killed her or if they had sex.

"The only two people who know is Ms. O'Keith and the other is the person who killed her," Keen said. "And you are not going to hear from either one of them."

Davis also told jurors at the Hall of Justice in Riverside that they will hear "about acts done to the victims that are going to horrify you."

In February 2002, a motorist discovered the body of a woman near Interstate 15 on a dirt section of Nichols Road, Davis said. O'Keith was stabbed in the back several times and one of her knees was dislocated, he said.

"It would have made her, the medical examiner will explain, unable to get away," Davis said.

Denby is also charged with raping, kidnapping, sexually assaulting and tying up a then-54-year-old woman from the San Pedro area on Feb. 10, 2002 -- six days before O'Keith died.

The Press-Enterprise does not typically identify the alleged victims of sexual crimes.

Davis said the woman, who then was a prostitute, will testify that Denby picked her up in San Pedro and they drove to some part of Riverside County against her will. She will say that he beat and sexually assaulted her, Davis said.

Physical evidence of rape was found on her clothes and tests link the evidence to Denby, he said. There is "a one-in-1.5 trillion" chance that the genetic material could have come from a person other than Denby, Davis said.

The woman noticed Denby had scars on his chest and stomach area. Davis then displayed pictures of Denby that showed scarring on those parts of his body.

The woman did not pick Denby out of a photo lineup, but a man who resembled him, he said.

Denby's lawyer said there is no evidence that the former prostitute was taken from San Pedro to Riverside County.

Keen also said the woman had several opportunities to escape from her attacker on Feb. 10, 2002.

Her attacker stopped at a convenience store and left her in the car alone before later stopping and asking for directions, Keen said.

At the time, the woman had been on a drug-induced high and was awake for seven straight days, he said. She was so tired that she fell asleep in the car and awoke to find she was in San Pedro, the defense lawyer said.