Sorry I basically snipped your entire post but re: this specific point
I thought about this a couple of weeks ago, went to research, and got sidetracked so my question remains, and if anyone can weigh in - does Georgia collect DNA upon arrest or only upon conviction and is it only on felony charges or misdemeanors too?
From what I have found, I don't think GA collects DNA samples on arrest, certainly not on misdemeanors. Fingerprints, yes but DNA I don't think so.
This is from 2015
All of this of course assumes there is DNA in this case .. But the potential issue being, if this killer has been arrested in the past (in GA) for non-felonies (DUI, publix intoxication, shoplifting, loitering) then no positive ID can be made. DNA in this case
would hit for other unsolved crimes. I am just thinking about the possibility that the killer has been arrested for lesser crimes in the past and may have graduated to this level of violence and have avoided their DNA being taken.
Prosecutors want to collect DNA at arrest, not after conviction
Eta - I am having trouble with quoting and other features on WS so excuse the sloppiness in the post