When there are No Eyewitness Testimony, Science Can Solve a Crime

You’ve probably seen this before: a crime is committed, but the witnesses are killed or there are simply none, and the prosecution relies heavily on science to fill in the blanks. In almost all of those cases, DNA evidence can link the perpetrator to the scene, even if he or she has the best alibi to offer. In reality, different jurisdictions have different variables to consider, different provisions, and different laws. Belize still does not boast a full-fledged DNA forensic laboratory, which often times can link a suspect or a victim to a crime scene. Many would recall the high-profile trial of William “Danny” Mason and four of his employees who were all convicted of the murder of Pastor Llewelyn Lucas, based on what the DNA evidence determined. In this story, News Five’s Marion Ali looks at forensic science and how it can trace a suspect to a particular crime. Here’s that report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Guilty as charged. That was the reverberating verdict back in December 2019, when former businessman, William “Danny” Mason and four co-defendants were all convicted of murder. They were positively linked to the heinous murder of Pastor Llewelyn Lucas. In that case, forensic evidence, specifically DNA evidence, tied the men to the crime. It was a case where science proved, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the accused persons were involved in a crime that had been committed. According to Executive Director of the Belize National Forensic Science Service, Gian Cho, forensic science has led to convictions in several other cases.

Gian Cho

Gian Cho, Executive Director, Belize National Forensic Science Service

“There have also been convictions on DNA evidence. Every year we get at least a few of them. Last year I think there was some sexual assault cases, some rape cases that got convictions, based on DNA evidence. The Danny Mason case got a conviction based on DNA evidence.”

Anisha Young

Because DNA capabilities are still not available in Belize, samples of genetic material in the Mason trial were sent abroad for testing. It was the hope of Anisha Young’s family that they could have taken whatever evidence was found after she went missing in December 2018 and sent them for DNA testing as well. Her uncle, Nelson Tillett, told News Five previously that they were told the procedures didn’t provide for that.

Nelson Tillett

Nelson Tillett, Uncle of Anisha Young (File: August 9th, 2023)

“My sister mi want actually get the swabs dehn and ship it to America weh dehn could do the forensic there. Or she mi actually may want bring in a private investigator but they nuh – dehn seh that nuh work soh.”

Malachi Hamilton

The most recent person to be reported missing and who remains so is Lake Independence resident, seventeen-year-old Malachi Hamilton. His aunt told us on Tuesday evening that she is convinced he was killed because he had been threatened. Now the family hopes that the investigation can lead to an arrest.

Natalie Hamilton

Natalie Hamilton, Aunt of Malachi Hamilton (File: October 10th, 2023)

“He was being threatened. His life was in danger. There are several people who wanted to hurt him. Why? Gang affiliation.

Marion Ali

“And so you feel somebody has harmed him? The family feels so?”

Natalie Hamilton

“Honestly, I’m a hundred percent sure that my nephew is dead. It’s just a matter of time in finding his body.”

In cases like these, where there will likely be no witness to the crime, it is the forensic evidence that the prosecution relies on to secure a guilty verdict. For the Belize National Forensic Science Service, the work that is being done is critical in achieving this result.

Gian Cho

“Being able to link a bullet to a particular firearm will prove that the firearm is what was used to shoot the person. What we’ve been finding and providing to investigators are linkages of recent shootings to past shootings to show how firearms are used sometimes in multiple incidents, or how shooting incidents are related to each other. Being able to link by the fluids, especially blood, is another way to link accused to the victim or accused to the scene, or sometimes victim to the scene. We also are able, within that same section for serology, that does the blood, the identification of blood, semen or other body fluids that can – or that are very useful – especially where there’s sexual assault involved.”

But when the NFSS is unable to, Cho explains that they rely on a U.S lab for assistance. Whenever Belize sends out samples for DNA testing, it carries a price tag of six thousand dollars for the country.

Gian Cho

“Currently, we ship out our DNA to a laboratory in the U.S.A, so out of all that, all those suspected blood or body fluids – samples that come into a laboratory – our serology section first examines them, see if there’s body fluid identified, confirmed, and then they take an extract of that or a further sample of that and send it out along with something to compare it to because we can’t just send one sample by itself. You’ll be able to extract a profile if it’s not decomposed or degraded. But if you don’t have a profile to compare it to – a known sample from either the victim or the suspect – then all you have is an unknown DNA profile.”

With the addition of new testing capabilities, it is anticipated that the seventeen sets of human remains awaiting identification and cause of death, will conclude these open cases.

Gian Cho

“We have about 17 sets of unidentified human skeletal remains that we have in our custody over the years. Recently we’ve placed a lot of emphasis on reopening, if you want, those cold cases. Some of them can be homicide cases, some of them might be just missing person cases, and they’re really just archived, unidentified human remains, or what they would call the long-term unidentified. We have tried to, with the help of some U. S. based researchers earlier this year, tried to move those cases a little bit more forward, advance them by doing the same bio-profile that I mentioned on the forensic anthropology, which we didn’t have back in the day when they recovered them. So now we have a set of additional information, sex, age, stature, ancestry, estimated of course, based on the forensic anthropology, expert opinions. And, you know, identifying marks if there are signs of arthritis or trauma, if there is chop wounds in some of the bones, et cetera. So the next step now would be to take those bio profiles and using, like I said, the police missing person database, which there are hundreds, try to narrow down the individuals that have a higher probability of them being a match.  And the next step would be to reach out to those family members to get the DNA samples.”

In 2022, the forensic lab sent out around twenty samples for testing. According to Cho, the court cases for most of those files have not yet commenced. Marion Ali for News Five.