NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The family of Suzanne Jovin, the Yale University student found stabbed to death off campus in 1998, has learned that DNA evidence in the unsolved murder was contaminated by a former Connecticut forensic lab worker.
The family and investigators had been holding out for nearly eight years that scrapings found under a fingernail on the 21-year-old's left hand would finally lead to her killer.
The Hartford Courant reports that investigators recently learned the DNA belongs to the technician, who has since retired from the State Police Forensic Laboratory. He contaminated a blood sample during initial forensic tests.
The Jovin family, which recently wrote to Gov. M. Jodi Rell criticizing the state's forensic laboratory for its "shortcomings," learned of the misstep last week.
------
Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com
