Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:48 AM
Updated: Thursday, October 28, 2010 02:36 PM
The Columbus Dispatch
File photo
Nancy Leslie was stabbed to death in 1991.
A man suspected for 19 years in the stabbing death of a Far North Side woman was arrested early today, after advanced DNA testing linked him to the crime, Columbus police announced.
Police arrested Richard Fugate, 46, early this morning at the West Side flooring business where he works. He is charged with murder in the death of Nancy Leslie.
Fugate is being held in the Franklin County jail, pending a court appearance on Friday.
Leslie, 44, was found stabbed to death, her wrists and ankles bound with duct tape, on Aug. 6, 1991, in her condominium on Cooper Bluff Drive on the Far North Side.
Sgt. Jeff Sacksteder said Fugate had been a suspect from the beginning. He said Fugate had done work at the victim's home, and cold case squad detective Russell Redman said Fugate knew Leslie through his ex-wife, who was friend's with the victim's daughter.
Redman said he took over the case when the original detective, Dave Morris, retired. Police compared DNA from the crime scene to Fugate shortly after the homicide, but testing techniques then were not advanced enough to make a comparison, police said.
After reviewing the case, Redman returned earlier this year to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime lab to go over the evidence with investigators there.
The lab linked the DNA evidence to Fugate using the latest techniques, he said. Fugate gave a second DNA sample earlier this year as part of a felony child non-support case in Delaware County, Redman said.
"That was a second match that came through as well," he said. "Finally, the sciences in this particular area caught up to the suspect."
Police arrested Richard Fugate, 46, early this morning at the West Side flooring business where he works. He is charged with murder in the death of Nancy Leslie.
Fugate is being held in the Franklin County jail, pending a court appearance on Friday.
Leslie, 44, was found stabbed to death, her wrists and ankles bound with duct tape, on Aug. 6, 1991, in her condominium on Cooper Bluff Drive on the Far North Side.
Sgt. Jeff Sacksteder said Fugate had been a suspect from the beginning. He said Fugate had done work at the victim's home, and cold case squad detective Russell Redman said Fugate knew Leslie through his ex-wife, who was friend's with the victim's daughter.
Redman said he took over the case when the original detective, Dave Morris, retired. Police compared DNA from the crime scene to Fugate shortly after the homicide, but testing techniques then were not advanced enough to make a comparison, police said.
After reviewing the case, Redman returned earlier this year to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime lab to go over the evidence with investigators there.
The lab linked the DNA evidence to Fugate using the latest techniques, he said. Fugate gave a second DNA sample earlier this year as part of a felony child non-support case in Delaware County, Redman said.
"That was a second match that came through as well," he said. "Finally, the sciences in this particular area caught up to the suspect."
No comments:
Post a Comment