Test links suspect to rape, police say

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Police say DNA taken from a man charged with murdering a Little Rock, Ark., television anchorwoman matches DNA tested in a separate rape case.

Marianna Police Detective Carl McCree said yesterday that DNA taken from Curtis Lavelle Vance during the investigation into the beating of anchorwoman Anne Pressly matched DNA gathered during an investigation into the April sexual assault of a school teacher in Marianna, 90 miles east of Little Rock.

Pressly died of her injuries, and Vance is charged with capital murder in the case. McCree says Vance faces rape and residential burglary charges in connection with the Marianna attack.

Vance, 28, was arrested without incident Wednesday night on suspicion of capital murder in the Oct. 20 attack on Pressly, 26, a morning anchorwoman for Little Rock's ABC affiliate, KATV. She died five days later, having never regained consciousness.

Tips from the public led to the arrest within a couple of hours after police publicly named Vance and his picture was broadcast on television. Vance was arrested at a home in central Little Rock, which is some 90 miles from Marianna, where he lives.

At a closed court hearing yesterday, Judge Lee Munson ordered Vance held without bond.

Deputy prosecutor John Hout said Vance said nothing during the short hearing, which was held inside the Pulaski County jail because courts were closed yesterday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS