RI - Christine Cole, 10, found murdered, Pawtucket, 6 Jan 1988 *arrest*

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Sunrisenow said:
Former suspect in 1988 cold case sues Pawtucket police for falsifying evidence | WPRI.com
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How can you have DNA that is “too broad” and still be able to arrest a person? DNA is pretty straightforward. It either matches a person or it doesn’t.

snip
In 2019, investigators announced that DNA evidence led them to Monteiro, who they said lived in the apartment above the market where Cole was last seen.

But charges against Monteiro were dropped seven months later because the DNA evidence was found to be too broad, and did not specifically point to Monteiro as the killer.
 
Sunrisenow said:
Charges dropped against suspect in Pawtucket cold case murder | WPRI.com
The district attorney’s office said while the Y-STR (short tandem repeat on the Y chromosome) forensic evidence didn’t exclude Monteiro, it “included all of his paternal male relatives.”
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Thanks for the link. So they found his ancient family line via a Y-STR test. Of course it matches his entire paternal male line, that’s what it’s designed to do.

Why would they think that’s enough for an arrest? His DNA has to be on the evidence from the crime to make it stick. Perhaps they moved too quickly to arrest him based on not understanding the DNA results? Hmmm. I hate to see him falsely accused if that is the case. If they really think he’s their perp, they need to dig deeper.
 
PayrollNerd said:
Thanks for the link. So they found his ancient family line via a Y-STR test. Of course it matches his entire paternal male line, that’s what it’s designed to do.

Why would they think that’s enough for an arrest? His DNA has to be on the evidence from the crime to make it stick. Perhaps they moved too quickly to arrest him based on not understanding the DNA results? Hmmm. I hate to see him falsely accused if that is the case. If they really think he’s their perp, they need to dig deeper.
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I believe (need to find the link) that the only other possible male in his line when Christine was alive is now deceased. I also believe there is more evidence linking him, but it hasn’t been made public. The facts that his “broad DNA” was found on her and that he lived above the store she was last seen, those are the two pieces that they have been made public. I think this is far from over, IMO.
 
MsGazette said:
I believe (need to find the link) that the only other possible male in his line when Christine was alive is now deceased. I also believe there is more evidence linking him, but it hasn’t been made public. The facts that his “broad DNA” was found on her and that he lived above the store she was last seen, those are the two pieces that they have been made public. I think this is far from over, IMO.
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I sure hope they have more and that it can make it stick forever. Justice needs to be served accurately and swiftly.
 
Can the civil suit be to get LE to produce more evidence that hasn't been disclosed ? Not sure how that would work !? Anyone know ?
 
Just wanted to add the link regarding the DNA. AG: Evidence not strong enough to charge man accused of killing Pawtucket girl in 1988

BBM:
After Cormier reopened the case, blood from Christine's pants was tested yet again. The testing produced a so-called Y-STR profile, a more extensive profile than had been available before. That profile was checked against a state database, which came back with the "closest match" to a man who was born five years after Christine was killed. That man had to submit his DNA because of a conviction that mandated he submit a DNA sample.

Police concluded that the suspect whose blood was on Christine's pants would be a close male family member of that "closest match." Joao Monteiro was the man's father.
 
MsGazette said:
Just wanted to add the link regarding the DNA. AG: Evidence not strong enough to charge man accused of killing Pawtucket girl in 1988

BBM:
After Cormier reopened the case, blood from Christine's pants was tested yet again. The testing produced a so-called Y-STR profile, a more extensive profile than had been available before. That profile was checked against a state database, which came back with the "closest match" to a man who was born five years after Christine was killed. That man had to submit his DNA because of a conviction that mandated he submit a DNA sample.

Police concluded that the suspect whose blood was on Christine's pants would be a close male family member of that "closest match." Joao Monteiro was the man's father.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that link, it is very informative. I could be wrong but I wonder if the DNA sample they found could be too degraded at this point? There are some newer ways to test DNA from poor or tiny samples. Maybe they'll be able to pinpoint it with a different more precise method soon.

"State prosecutors declined to even present the case to a grand jury.

The Y-STR DNA, while it didn’t exclude Joao Monteiro, also didn’t exclude all of his paternal male relatives, prosecutors explained.

“That means absent the ability to eliminate the defendant’s father, brothers, uncles and cousins on his father’s side of the family as suspects, we cannot definitively establish that the defendant was the source of that inculpatory DNA sample,” assistant attorney general Timothy Healy wrote.

Other suspects haven’t been excluded, and there is “no other conclusive evidence establishing that this defendant murdered Christine Cole,” Healy wrote in a filing announcing they were not pursuing criminal charges against Monteiro."
 
From Oct. 2023
https://www.wpri.com/news/local-new...-lawsuit-in-pawtucket-cold-case-murder-stand/
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — The Central Falls man accused of killing a 10-year-old girl more than three decades ago will have his day in court after a judge allowed his lawsuit against the Pawtucket Police Department to move forward.

Joao Monteiro was arrested in 2019 in connection with the death of Christine Cole. Cole went missing after she left her West Avenue home to pick up groceries in January 1988. Her body was found nearly two months later on the beach at Conimicut Point Park in Warwick.

Investigators claimed DNA evidence led them to Monteiro, who reportedly lived in the apartment above the market where Cole was last seen.
But charges against Monteiro were dropped seven months later after the DNA evidence was found to be too broad, and did not specifically point to Monteiro as the killer.

Monteiro filed the lawsuit two years ago, arguing that the evidence was fabricated and suppressed in an attempt to solve the decades-old cold case.
 
ifindedout said:
From Oct. 2023
https://www.wpri.com/news/local-new...-lawsuit-in-pawtucket-cold-case-murder-stand/
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — The Central Falls man accused of killing a 10-year-old girl more than three decades ago will have his day in court after a judge allowed his lawsuit against the Pawtucket Police Department to move forward.

Joao Monteiro was arrested in 2019 in connection with the death of Christine Cole. Cole went missing after she left her West Avenue home to pick up groceries in January 1988. Her body was found nearly two months later on the beach at Conimicut Point Park in Warwick.

Investigators claimed DNA evidence led them to Monteiro, who reportedly lived in the apartment above the market where Cole was last seen.
But charges against Monteiro were dropped seven months later after the DNA evidence was found to be too broad, and did not specifically point to Monteiro as the killer.

Monteiro filed the lawsuit two years ago, arguing that the evidence was fabricated and suppressed in an attempt to solve the decades-old cold case.
Click to expand...

I can not access this article - stupid EU rules - but does it say "when" this hearing might be. I might follow it. TIA!
 
Niner said:
I can not access this article - stupid EU rules - but does it say "when" this hearing might be. I might follow it. TIA!
Click to expand...
No mention of any date, just the vague "his day in court" above.
 
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