BOULDER, Colo.—A judge has ruled that DNA evidence from a baseball bat police say was used to kill a University of Colorado student can be used in her suspected killer’s trial this summer.
Diego Olmos Alcalde faces murder charges in the death of 23-year-old Susannah Chase.She was raped and beaten and found dead in an alley a block from her Boulder home Dec. 21, 1997.
The baseball bat was found nearby.
Police arrested Alcalde last year after saying that DNA samples taken from him linked him to the crime scene. Authorities in Wyoming, where Alcalde had served time in prison for a 2000 kidnapping conviction, had submitted a sample of his DNA to a national database, which matched it with Chase’s case, authorities said.
Investigators say evidence from the bat also links Alcalde to the crime. Tests turned up DNA from Alcalde’s then-girlfriend, according to court documents.
Investigators have ruled her out as a suspect based on her alibi.
Defense attorneys tried to keep the evidence from the bat out of court. They contended there wasn’t enough evidence to run more tests and challenged previous tests of the DNA.
District Judge James Klein ruled against the defense request Friday.
“The DNA evidence from the bat will not play a significant role in the defendant’s defense,” Klein wrote in the ruling. “To the contrary, the defendant’s goal here is to assure that it is not used in the trial at all. Moreover, as the people point out, the evidence at issue tends to show that the defendant had access to the bat.”
Chase, of Stamford, Conn., was walking home alone early on Dec. 21, 1997, after an argument with her boyfriend when she was attacked. Police believe it was random. She was found in an alley a block from her home.
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Information from: Daily Camera,
