Trial Told DNA Shows Mixed Results

Trial Told DNA Shows Mixed Results

Monday, January 24, 2011 at 14:19

 

 

A trial into the murder of an Onion Lake woman was told today that DNA samples from evidence at the scene showed mixed results.

 

Alberta trucker Gordon Dwight Hurley is on trial for second degree murder of 20-year-old Jarita Naistus.

 

Her body was found in a Lloydminster motel room in October of 2005.

 

Retired RCMP forensic biologist Karl Hummel said some samples – for example, a face cloth — showed the majority of DNA there came from Hurley.

 

And, a bloody fingernail clipping from Naistus also contained Hurley’s DNA.

 

But other samples, like a cigarette butt, came from Myron Smith, Naistus’ lover.

 

Still other samples, like a belt around Naistus’s neck, showed DNA primarily from Naistus.

 

But Hummel said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that some DNA on there may have come from Hurley and Smith.

 

The trial, now in its second week, is expected to last about two weeks, possibly three.