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When a break comes that could solve a string of unsolved murders, FBI forensic scientists drop what they're doing and make that analysis a top priority, a retired FBI Laboratory employee says.
And that's almost assuredly what is happening now with recent evidence gathered from Richard Marc Evonitz, former FBI agent and forensic scientist Harold Deadman says.
Evonitz, a 38-year-old former Spotsylvania County resident, emerged a suspect in the Lisk-Silva slayings there after he killed himself as police closed in to arrest him in connection with the abduction and rape of a South Carolina teenager on June 25.
"Obviously, this is a high-profile case," Deadman said of the Lisk-Silva slayings. "You've got four homicides--three that the FBI's been involved in, and countless hours of investigation. You've got to think that may solve the case, so you would run it right away."
Investigators have sent blood and hair samples from Evonitz, as well as other evidence, to the FBI Laboratory in Washington to determine whether he killed 16-year-old Sofia Silva, as well as 15-year-old Kristin Lisk and her 12-year-old sister Kati. All three girls were abducted from their Spotsylvania homes in broad daylight--Silva in September 1996, the Lisks the following May.
Police are also looking into whether Evonitz could have been involved in other slayings, including the March 1996 death of Alicia Showalter Reynolds. The 25-year-old graduate student from Baltimore disappeared while traveling along U.S. 29 in Culpeper County. Her remains were found in Lignum two months later.
FBI officials would not comment on their handling of recent evidence in the Lisk-Silva case. Investigators have said it could take weeks before they get definitive test results.
Deadman, who spent 15 years analyzing hairs and fibers for the FBI and retired in 1996, said there are likely good reasons for that.
First is the practical matter of the time involved in tracing Evonitz's whereabouts--where he lived and what he drove--and obtaining samples from each.
There is DNA evidence in the Spotsylvania cases, making the genetic analysis an obvious starting point. But Deadman said that alone may not answer the question of who killed the girls.
"It's possible he left no DNA behind. But there could be hairs and fibers--trace evidence--that could be linked to him," he said
Second, even if a DNA match is found, investigators may want to investigate further to determine whether Evonitz acted alone.
And third, investigators will want to thoroughly research Evonitz's life before closing their case files, to make sure they know every crime he committed--locally or elsewhere.
"This is going to go on for a while," Deadman said, "even if they were to get a match."
Spotsylvania sheriff's Maj. Howard Smith, who leads the Lisk-Silva Task Force, has said as much. He says that while investigators are eager to solve the case, they are being meticulous.
"By the time this is over and done with," Smith said, "we plan on being able to answer every question in our mind."