DNA Evidence Ties Former Montana Man To Central Texas Murder

(July 6, 2007)--DNA evidence provided the alleged link between a former Montana man and the murder of a 71-year-old registered sex offender last fall in Copperas Cove.

Stephan Dean Hogankamp was charged late last month with Capital Murder in the Oct. 1, 2006 death of Kenneth Eugene Smith, 71, whose body was found in the bedroom of his burning home in Copperas Cove.

Justice of the Peace Larry McDonald set bond at $1 million on the new complaint.

Hogankamp remains jailed.

Investigators determined Smith died of blunt force injury, but the case turned cold after a subsequent search and reward failed to turn up any suspects.

Eight months later, forensic scientists at the Montana state crime lab in Missoula found a DNA match for the arson and homicide.

Smith was a registered sex offender as a result of an incident in the early 1990s involving a 20-year-old man, according to the Department of Public Safety Web site.