Fingernail Evidence

THE CRIME: A 14-year old girl was found strangled in the shower of the defendant, Roy Wayne Russell, in his Vancouver, WA home on November 2, 2005. Russell’s hands showed bruises and a small cut, and there were also small cuts on his abdomen. Evidence of a sexual assault was not present.

THE EVIDENCE: The only potential DNA evidence available consisted of fingernail scrapings taken from the victim. This evidence was collected by the Vancouver PD and prepared for testing at the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

THE TESTING: Orchid Cellmark performed Y-chromosome STR testing on extracts prepared from the victim’s fingernail scrapings. The results demonstrated that the Y-STR profile from this evidence was consistent with the genetic profile of the defendant.

THE TRIAL: Two Orchid Cellmark scientists testified at the trial that the DNA evidence was a significant match to the defendant. Due to the combined efforts of the Vancouver PD, Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Orchid Cellmark, Roy Wayne Russell was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

THE MESSAGE: DNA evidence from fingernail scrapings can be a powerful method for identifying suspects. Although this evidence is routinely collected in many physical and/or sexual assault cases, it is often overlooked, even in cases with no other available DNA evidence. Especially in cases of violent assault, fingernail scraping evidence should always be collected and analyzed concurrently with other potential sources of DNA.

T0 LEARN MORE: To learn more about Y-STR testing, please visit our website, www.Orchid Cellmark.com. For information on Orchid Cellmark's ABI's Y-filer and Promega's Powerplex Y kits, click here.