HIBBING, Minn. — A longtime Minnesota state forensic scientist testified Thursday that Michael Carbo Jr.'s DNA was found on murder victim Nancy Daugherty's bedsheet and beneath her fingernails.
Carbo's DNA, thumbprint found at murder scene, witnesses testify
Scientists for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension placed Michael Carbo Jr., at Nancy Daugherty's home.
Ann Marie Gross of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said she compared DNA taken in 2020 from items in Carbo's garbage to vomit found near matted grass in Daugherty's front yard in Chisholm within hours of her killing on July 16, 1986.
"It matched," Gross said from the witness stand at the St. Louis County Courthouse.
Testimony continued in the jury trial for what was considered an Iron Range cold case until advances in DNA technology led authorities to Carbo, 54.
Daugherty, 38, was found dead in her home on the day she was supposed to move to the Twin Cities to start training as a paramedic. Carbo, then 18, lived less than a mile away and had attended school with her children.
Carbo, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, was never a suspect until he was pinged by a company that uses genealogical databases to find suspects.
Authorities matched evidence from the scene with samples from a bag of garbage they watched him throw away. He has been in St. Louis County Jail since his arrest in 2020.
Gross has worked for the BCA for more than 30 years in a St. Paul-based laboratory. She went into great detail about the steps involved in testing DNA and safeguards against errors. She testified that she has been involved with the Daugherty case since 1992. Carbo's DNA was also found on a wash cloth and on a swab taken from her vagina.
The state's first witness was Martin Koolen, a BCA scientist who specializes in latent fingerprints. He testified that Carbo's right thumbprint was found on the stool cover in Daugherty's bathroom.
The defense, which was light on cross examination Thursday, said in its opening statement this week that Carbo had consensual sex with Daugherty in her yard, used her bathroom and left. Carbo's attorney JD Schmid said someone else killed her.
The trial, presided over by District Judge Robert Friday, is expected to continue into early next week.
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