Originally Posted by gaia
Dna was probably collected from Karr when he was in trouble all those years ago and skipped town in Petaluma. I think they illegally and surreptitiously obtained it and made the match, then decided to go ahead and get this guy - because the Thais were going to cut him loose and kick him out of their country.
If LE already had a DNA profile of Karr, why would they need to obtain another sample from him in Tailand to match it to? If they already had his DNA profile on file, that's all they need, and they could just go ahead and try to match it to whatever DNA evidence from the crime scene they have. The fact that they took a DNA sample from him in Tailand would indicate they they probably don't have his DNA profile already, but if they did, they may have also taken the additional sample in Tailand just to be incredibly thorough.
Illegally obtaining a DNA sample is just not a possibility. The LE would have to have gone through a private DNA testing firm to have an illegally obtained sample tested as the State Bureau of Investigation wouldn't touch it, nor would LE be stupid enough to try. The SBI requires significant chain of custody as well as a judge's order allowing the testing... chain of custody includes how the sample was obtained. A private DNA testing firm is grossly expensive, the LE would have to figure out some way of hiding the payment for their service, and anyone from LE who signed a contract with the private firm and received the bill would put themselves at risk for not only losing their job and entire career but risk criminal prosecution as well. DNA testing just isn't something that can be done furtively in some back room of the police department.
Besides, why would they bother illegally obtaining a DNA sample from Karr in Tailand since they wouldn't be able to use that information to convince a judge or the Taiwanese to arrest or extradite him? LE can't just decide to arrest this guy on their own... probable cause has to be shown to a judge first, and the judge decides if the person can be arrested. They couldn't and certainly wouldn't take illegally obtained DNA evidence to a judge to show probable cause. There is just no reason to illegally obtain DNA from Karr since they can't use it for anything. The Taiwanese would be even more scrupulous in making sure that the DNA was obtained legally as they want to wash their hands of this guy without anyone being able to point fingers at them later.
Surreptuously obtaining a sample of Karr's DNA would be a possibility, and I don't see much reason why they would not be able to go through legal channels to obtain one. All that would be needed is to show the judge that there is probable cause he's the perp and sufficient reason why arresting him before DNA testing was completed without his knowledge would present difficulties (although I don't know what difficulties there would be)... there's probable cause as Karr was already a suspect, and he was previously arrested for child











. I'm just not seeing the reason why they couldn't just go ahead and arrest him in Tailand because of the outstanding warrant from skipping the country on the











case. However, it may be that convincing Tailand officials to arrest him just on the outstanding warrant may not have been sufficient for the Taiwanese. The U.S. has an extradition treaty with Taiwan, but who knows what sort of information/evidence the Taiwanese may require before allowing Karr to be extradited.
Obtaining a surreptuous DNA sample would also be quite tricky... the sample would have to be known to come from him, and known to be uncontaminated. It may be possible for someone tailing him to cleverly lift a soda bottle he was seen drinking out of or a cigarette butt from a cigarette he smoked, but it would be extremely difficult to do that without that sample becoming contaminated. If someone tailing him watched him drink from a can of soda, Karr threw the can in the trash, and the person tailing him retrieved it from the trash, it would then be contaminated by the contents of whatever else was in the trash. Same thing if someone tailing him lifted a cigarette butt he tossed away.