DNA helps in charge of man for '89 murder--By: Hannah Mikels
An Ohio prison inmate was charged Thursday with stabbing and killing a St. Paul man back in 1989 thanks to DNA results from the crime scene, according to police.
Larry Wayne Brigman, 57, faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Dale Luverne Heinold, according to wcco.com.
Brigman was a drifter in 1989 who may have befriended Hienold before the murder. In fact, witnesses said they last saw Heinold alive in the elevator with another man. The two of them were carring pizza and a 12-pack of beer, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Heinhold's sister was found dead in his apartment by his sister on May 20, 1989. The next day, his stolen car was found in the parking lot of an Ohio bar, and witnesses there recalled seeing an unknown man with a bandaged right hand. However, after that the case went cold, all according to startribune.com.
Police reopened the investigation in June 2006 when they ran the unknown killer's DNA through the national forensic DNA database, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The DNA results and also fingerprints from the crime scene matched Brigman, according to wcco.com.
Investigators reviewed Brigman's Ohio manslaughter conviction with the case of Heinhold and found similarities, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. For example, the victims were killed in their homes, their cars and other items were stolen, and the killings occurred three months apart.
Brigman claims he wasn't in or around Minnesota at the time of Heinhold's death, but he had blackouts due to alcohol, according to investigators, reported wcco.com