Poodle's DNA Helps Track Down Accused Dognapper

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A dead toy poodle's DNA led police in Louisiana to arrest a man suspected in the thefts of five pedigreed puppies from a pet store in January.

Police in Chalmette, a suburb north of New Orleans, charged Edwin Gallo with felony possession of stolen property, namely the body of the six-month-old poodle discovered at his home.

It died mysteriously in Gallo's care after detectives questioned him about the missing dogs, said Sgt. Adam Nunez with the St. Bernard's Parish Sheriff's Department. Gallo presented forged ownership papers, he said.

"I knew the only way I could possibly link him to that burglary without a witness or anything was to go ahead and get this dog tested," Nunez said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&ncid=583&e=6&u=/nm/20040518/od_nm/dna_dc

Shoot!

I wrote it for my Scientific Evidence professor in fulfillment of my upper level writing requirement. I haven't received my grade yet, but my professor loved my paper; I think it was a welcome change from fingerprints and hearsay evidence!

The paper practically wrote itself; it was really an intriguing subject. There was a Canadian murder case in which cat DNA was used to link the culprit's jacket left where the body was found to his parents' white cat, Snowball. I discussed that case and the technique scientists at the National Cancer Institute used to create the feline genome (and then a feline DNA database for medical research AND crime-solving). I also analyzed the potential admissibility of cat DNA in American courts.

If you can find the book "Tears of the Cheetah" by Stephen J. O'Brien, I'd highly recommend it. There's a chapter in there about the Snowball case and other animal DNA testing experiences.