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The defense was seeking Monday to cast doubt on the guilt of an Auburn man who is charged with the rape and murder of an Alaskan woman in 1993 by introducing half a dozen alternative suspects.
A judge in the case heard arguments from Lewiston defense attorney James Howaniec in support of a motion allowing him to present evidence to a jury at trial that at least six other men may have been involved somehow in the rape and murder of 20-year-old Sophie Surgie.
Each of those men was viewed by investigators as a person of interest, Howaniec told Fairbanks Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple on Monday via videoconference.
Alternative suspects named in Auburn man's Alaska murder case pressherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The genetic information derived by Parabon from the crime scene DNA evidence was provided to a Florida company called GEDmatch, which uses DNA information submitted by genealogy DNA testing services.
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DNA expert says she found suspect Steven Downs through profile matching in 1993 Alaska murder case
The murder trial for Steven Downs, an Auburn man accused in a 1993 murder case out of Fairbanks, Alaska, continues.
Steven Downs appears in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in March 2019 for an extradition hearing.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
A self-described professional genetic genealogist testified Thursday that she was the one who identified an Auburn man as a match for DNA found at the scene of a murdered woman in Alaska more than two decades ago.
CeCe Moore, who has appeared in a television network series called “The Genetic Detective,” said she was working for a DNA testing company as an investigator in 2018 when Alaska State Police submitted DNA evidence discovered in 20-year-old Sophie Sergie, who was found dead in a dormitory bathroom at University of Alaska at Fairbanks on April 25, 1993.