DNA evidence leads to conviction in 11-year-old cold case

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) _ Using DNA evidence left at crime scenes more than a decade ago, a jury convicted a man Tuesday in the deaths of two women who were found raped and strangled in Rochester.

Christopher Gifford, 32, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Patricia Daggett, 26, and Lachelle Weaver, 24. He was also found guilty of first-degree rape in Daggett's case.

Daggett's body was found Nov. 29, 1995 behind a drug house that had been boarded up and vacated.

Weaver was found with her throat cut in her apartment Aug. 25, 1996.

A DNA sample was obtained from Gifford when he went to prison in 1998 for attempted first-degree rape of another victim.

That sample was entered into a DNA database and later matched to evidence recovered from the scenes.

Gifford faces a sentence of 50 years to life in prison.

The trial for a co-defendant in the case, Howard Wright, 27, is set to begin Friday. Wright was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree rape in the Daggett case.