Analysis of DNA won't go quickly
Processing the hundreds of samples offered by local men in the BTK case will take time -- and may yield nothing, experts say.

By Hurst Laviana
The Wichita Eagle

Although forensic science has made important advances in recent years, it could take weeks to process the DNA evidence being collected during the search for the BTK serial killer, criminal justice sources said Monday.

The scope of the Wichita police investigation was hinted at last week when one man reported being told by police he was the 600th person asked to submit a DNA sample.

Police confirmed last month that BTK had surfaced after 25 years of silence by sending a letter to The Wichita Eagle. The letter contained photocopies of the driver's license of the killer's 1986 victim as well as pictures of her body. It was the eighth person BTK has claimed to have killed since 1974.

Police on Monday continued to decline comment on the status of their investigation.

Tim Rohrig, director of the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, said processing that volume of evidence could prove to be time-consuming and expensive.

"It's a very quick process to actually collect an oral sample," he said.

But conducting the DNA test can take time, he said, and the follow-up work to ensure the test's accuracy takes even longer.

Because cases vary so widely, Rohrig said, it's hard to come up with an estimate for the amount of time involved in processing a typical sample. He said time can sometimes be saved by processing batches of evidence instead of individual samples.

Rohrig said the forensic center normally tells law enforcement agencies that tests can be completed six to eight weeks from the time a sample reaches the building. He also said a test can cost several hundred dollars.

The profiles from the samples being collected by police are being run through a nationwide DNA database that contains DNA profiles and information about more than 1 million people, most of whom were sampled when entering prison systems around the country.

DNA markers that are analyzed by the FBI computer are like genetic fingerprints that are unique for every human being. Recent advances in DNA technology can allow technicians to sometimes match a suspect and a DNA sample with virtually 100 percent certainty.

The program already has been credited with helping police identify murder suspects in three Wichita homicide cases.

One of those cases involved Douglas Belt, who is charged with capital murder in the death of Lucille Gallegos. Her decapitated body was found in a west Wichita apartment in June 2002. Belt also is charged with several rapes in Kansas and Illinois.

Brian Withrow, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University, said that once a sample is processed, it takes no time to run it through the FBI's DNA computer.

"I know that it takes seconds for machine to do the actual analysis," he said. "The real long line is ensuring the chain of evidence. You have to be able to prove that the sample you bring to court is the sample you collected from the scene."

Wichita criminal defense lawyer Dan Monnat said he has received numerous calls the past few days from people who have been asked by police to submit DNA samples. Monnat said these people have felt intimidated when law enforcement officers ask for swabs from their cheeks because they are suspected of being BTK.

"A search warrant is required for your mouth as well as your house," Monnat said.

He said people have a right to know how their DNA will be used before giving consent.

"These innocent individuals are forthrightly consenting that their DNA be used to eliminate them as a BTK suspect," Monnat said.

"But using their DNA for any other purpose would be exceeding the scope of their consent and perhaps be an actionable invasion of privacy."

With more than 1,000 tips coming in through telephone and e-mail hotlines, Withrow said he thinks there's a good chance that detectives will eventually track down the killer.

"I think that what's going to break the case is not clairvoyance or some high-tech CSI technique," he said. "I think what's going to break this is shoe leather. Some grunt cop is going to get lucky, or some citizen is going to put 2 and 2 together. Those are the sorts of things that solve cases.

"The science will be there, but science has to know where to look. The science happens after the suspect is found."

Contributing: Ron Sylvester of The Eagle
Reach Hurst Laviana at 268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com.

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