This has been national news previously, so chances are you are familiar with it already. But, interesting developments in the case this week, with the possibility of a 5 year old being the one who did it,instead of Ms. Arnold. This case might not seem as cut and dry as one would think
Source Daytondailynews.com
By Lou Grieco
Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2008
DAYTON A forensic scientist testified Friday, Aug. 22 that a partial DNA profile taken from five areas on the ceiling of China Arnold's microwave did match Arnold' baby.
Amy Rismiller of the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory said that she ruled out Arnold as the contributor of the DNA. She said she did not test to see if Terrell Talley's DNA matched, since the partial profile was a female.
Arnold and Talley are the parents of Paris Talley, who died Aug. 30, 2005. She was 28 days old. Arnold is accused of killing her in a microwave.
Assistant Montgomery County prosecutors said Paris Talley was on her back in the microwave. Autopsy pictures show the girl suffered major burns across the front of her face, torso and limbs, but nearly none on her back.
Rismiller said she swabbed the microwave's walls, floor and inside of the door, but got "insufficient results," meaning that there was either no DNA present, or so little that it cannot be detected.
Rismiller also testified concerning a bin full of water and an unknown sediment, which police found in an upstairs bedroom at Arnold's home, 415 Hall Ave. in the now-condemned Parkside Homes housing complex.
Rismiller said she tested the bottom of the bin, a pink plastic tub, but got insufficient results. When she tested the water, she found a "partial mixed profile," whose major contributor was Paris Talley. The minor contributor could not be identified, because there was not enough DNA available, Rismiller said.
During cross examination by defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, Rismiller said that a full match of 15 DNA markers between two samples would mean the odds would be in the quadrillions that the samples came from two different people, excluding identical twins.
The partial profile from the microwave had five genetic markers. Rismiller said that, for African-Americans, there was a one in 80,000 that a five-marker partial profile would have come from someone else.
Rion asked if she had tested the DNA of Lionda Talley, Terrell's sister and Paris' aunt, who lived down the street from Arnold and was watching Arnold's children the night before the baby died. Rismiller responded that she was never given a DNA profile to test.
She also told Rion that DNA can transfer from other surfaces, such as the tip of a baby bottle.
On re-direct by assistant county prosecutor Dan Brandt, Rismiller said the DNA could also come from the baby being inside the microwave.
She also told Brandt that she thought it would be unlikely that the sample came from Lionda Talley, since testing had excluded Arnold, who supplied half of her daughter's DNA. Though other relatives can have similar DNA, the further away you get from the parents, the less likely you'll get significant matching of genetic markers, Rismiller said.
Source Daytondailynews.com
By Lou Grieco
Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2008
DAYTON A forensic scientist testified Friday, Aug. 22 that a partial DNA profile taken from five areas on the ceiling of China Arnold's microwave did match Arnold' baby.
Amy Rismiller of the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory said that she ruled out Arnold as the contributor of the DNA. She said she did not test to see if Terrell Talley's DNA matched, since the partial profile was a female.
Arnold and Talley are the parents of Paris Talley, who died Aug. 30, 2005. She was 28 days old. Arnold is accused of killing her in a microwave.
Assistant Montgomery County prosecutors said Paris Talley was on her back in the microwave. Autopsy pictures show the girl suffered major burns across the front of her face, torso and limbs, but nearly none on her back.
Rismiller said she swabbed the microwave's walls, floor and inside of the door, but got "insufficient results," meaning that there was either no DNA present, or so little that it cannot be detected.
Rismiller also testified concerning a bin full of water and an unknown sediment, which police found in an upstairs bedroom at Arnold's home, 415 Hall Ave. in the now-condemned Parkside Homes housing complex.
Rismiller said she tested the bottom of the bin, a pink plastic tub, but got insufficient results. When she tested the water, she found a "partial mixed profile," whose major contributor was Paris Talley. The minor contributor could not be identified, because there was not enough DNA available, Rismiller said.
During cross examination by defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, Rismiller said that a full match of 15 DNA markers between two samples would mean the odds would be in the quadrillions that the samples came from two different people, excluding identical twins.
The partial profile from the microwave had five genetic markers. Rismiller said that, for African-Americans, there was a one in 80,000 that a five-marker partial profile would have come from someone else.
Rion asked if she had tested the DNA of Lionda Talley, Terrell's sister and Paris' aunt, who lived down the street from Arnold and was watching Arnold's children the night before the baby died. Rismiller responded that she was never given a DNA profile to test.
She also told Rion that DNA can transfer from other surfaces, such as the tip of a baby bottle.
On re-direct by assistant county prosecutor Dan Brandt, Rismiller said the DNA could also come from the baby being inside the microwave.
She also told Brandt that she thought it would be unlikely that the sample came from Lionda Talley, since testing had excluded Arnold, who supplied half of her daughter's DNA. Though other relatives can have similar DNA, the further away you get from the parents, the less likely you'll get significant matching of genetic markers, Rismiller said.
