Deborah Dalzell
New DNA tests lead to arrest in 1999 murder case in Sarasota, cops say
By Sarah Nealeigh
Bradenton Herald
SARASOTA - Advances in DNA testing technology — including a process that produces a computer-generated image of what a DNA sample’s contributor might look like — led to an arrest in a 1999 murder case in Sarasota, according to authorities.
Officials say DNA testing, part of the investigation into the murder of 47-year-old Deborah Dalzell in March 1999, led detectives with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office to identify and arrest 39-year-old Luke Fleming.
During the initial investigation of the crime scene, detectives found semen evidence, according to the sheriff’s office. When run through the law enforcement DNA database, no matches were found.
But technology and research in DNA have advanced since Dalzell’s death, especially in the past three years, said Captain John Walsh of the sheriff’s office investigations bureau. After thousands of hours of investigation, talking to more than 300 people and getting nearly 100 DNA samples, Walsh said, investigators have some answers.
In 2015, the sheriff’s office reached out to Parabon Nanolabs. The company specializes in a technology called DNA phenotyping, a process that predicts physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence collected in the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
In 2016, detectives got a genetic profile of the collected DNA. The semen DNA produced predictions and a depiction of what the person may have looked like, the sheriff’s office said. Walsh explained detectives were able to use that composite and “develop new leads.”
Two years later, the sheriff’s office asked Parabon Nanolabs to do another analysis that compared the DNA to a database of volunteered DNA profiles to find relatives of the DNA sample.
Using family relationship information, detectives built a chart that identified a man named Joseph Fleming. Though he died in 2001, detectives learned he had two sons, Luke and Jesse Fleming, who lived in a home less than a mile from Dalzell.
Jesse Fleming, a convicted felon, already had his DNA in the law enforcement database. When his DNA didn’t match the sample, investigators determined Luke Fleming was the “only viable living relative,” Walsh said.
Luke Fleming also looked similar to the depiction provided by Parabon Nanolabs, according to Walsh.
“Detectives used this information to identify people who may have information helpful to the investigation, ultimately identifying 20-year-old Luke Fleming, who at the time, lived at 5185 Magnolia Pond Drive, walking distance to Deborah’s home,” according to the sheriff’s office.
A report received by the sheriff’s office on Sept. 14 identified Fleming as the contributor of the DNA sample, according to Walsh. Fleming was 20 at the time of Dalzell’s death.
On Wednesday, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference during which officials announced the development in their 19-year investigation into the death of Dalzell.
On Twitter, the sheriff’s office called the announcement “one of many steps in the right direction” toward closing the case.
Coworkers at KMC-Telecom were concerned for Dalzell after she did not show up for work on March 29, 1999. Deputies went to Dalzell’s home in the 5300 block of Colony Meadows Lane, where she lived alone and found her dead in the bathroom.
She had been beaten, sexually battered and strangled, according to investigators. The last time anyone spoke with Dalzell was the night before her body was found.
In the probable cause affidavit, investigators wrote they determined at least one person went in the rear of Dalzell’s home through a cut in the pool screen and an open door.
“This is a very significant day for Deborah’s family, for our community and our detectives,” Sheriff Tom Knight said in a news release. “I can’t imagine what it feels like to spend nearly twenty years with unanswered questions related to such a heinous crime. My thoughts are with Deborah’s family as I hope this resolution will eventually bring them the closure they need and deserve.”
Dalzell’s sister, Peggy Thistle, spoke at Wednesday’s news conference on behalf of the family. She said the family has dreamed of the news of an arrest more than 19 years. Investigators said Thistle was the last person to speak to Dalzell.
“It’s an emotional day today,” Thistle said, speaking through tears.
“We miss Deborah every day. We never gave up hope,” she said.
Thistle remembered her sister as kind, smart — she passed the Massachusetts Bar exam on her first attempt — and an “incredible role model.” She said Dalzell, a life-long Massachusetts girl, made the “huge decision” to move to Sarasota.
“But she fell in love with the beach, found the found the house of her dreams and called it paradise,” Thistle said. “On March 29, 1999, this evil person turned her paradise into a nightmare.”
She said they did not know the Fleming family.
Fleming was initially taken into custody in Ellenton late Sunday and was taken to the Sarasota County jail on Monday, according to the sheriff’s office. He was charged with murder and sexual battery with great bodily harm and is being held in Sarasota County on a $1.2 million bond.
Walsh said Fleming had an “unremarkable” criminal history, with a previous arrest in Manatee County for domestic battery.
Fleming had moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Sarasota in 1991 and graduated from Riverview High School in 1997, Walsh said. Fleming, he added, has lived in Pinellas County for the past year.
The investigation into Dalzell’s death is ongoing. Dalzell’s birthday is Friday, Thistle said.
According to IMDB.com, Dalzell’s murder was featured in an episode of Investigation Discovery’s “Sensing Murder” in 2006 in which two psychics sought clues in her death.
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local...218649870.html
Bookmarks