DNA recovered from a chain at the site of an Occupy Wall Street protest in March has been matched with DNA linked to the unsolved killing of a Juilliard student in 2004, law enforcement officials familiar with the case said on Tuesday.
The student, Sarah Fox, 21, disappeared while on a jog in Inwood Hill Park in May 2004, and her naked body was found in the park almost a week later surrounded by yellow tulip petals. The DNA on the chain from the New York protest, the officials said, was matched with DNA found on her portable compact disc player, which was found in the park several days after her body was discovered.
Investigators were seeking to determine the significance of the DNA match. One law enforcement official said it was unclear who might have touched both the CD player and the chain and why, noting that it was possible that the person who did so might not have been the killer.
“Whether it’s a friend or the bad guy, we have to find out,” the official said.
The chain was used in March to prop open an emergency exit door at a subway station as part of an Occupy Wall Street action to allow passengers to ride free.
The police later released surveillance video of people in dark hoods and masks wrapping a long silver chain around the emergency exit door.
Officials said they had fed the DNA from the chain into a database, hoping to find the perpetrators. A computer indicated that some DNA matched that on Ms. Fox’s CD player.
Ms. Fox’s sister, Samantha Washlick, 33, said she had been given few details about the development in the death of her sister, who the police said was strangled. No one was ever charged.
“In regard to this new evidence, we’re confident that the prosecutor’s office will investigate all new evidence fully and inform us when sufficient evidence leads to an arrest,” Ms. Washlick said.
The development was reported on Tuesday by an NBC news affiliate in New York.
An Occupy Wall Street spokesman, Ed Needham, said, “We have no information about any alleged connection or those making such allegations.”
The investigation of Ms. Fox’s killing by the police and the Manhattan district attorney’s office had focused on Dimitry Sheinman, an artist and construction worker. Seven months after her body was found, the district attorney at the time, Robert M. Morgenthau, said that Mr. Sheinman was the “No. 1 suspect,” but that there was not enough evidence to charge him.
The new DNA findings raise questions about whether they have focused on the wrong person. Through his lawyer, Mr. Sheinman has denied any role in the killing.
Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.
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