DNA evidence may link suspect to murder scene

MANSFIELD – DNA evidence may have linked suspect Terry Lee to the scene of a fatal shooting.

Dawn Fryback, a DNA analyst with the Mansfield Police Department’s crime lab, was the last witness of the day Thursday on the third day of Lee’s trial.

Lee, 36, of Chicago, is charged with aggravated murder with gun specification in connection with the Sept. 24 shooting death of Charles Mathews, 31.

Mathews was shot while in his vehicle, which rolled into the intersection of West Fourth Street and Rowland Avenue, striking a box truck.

Key to the case is a white Chevrolet Cavalier with a woman driver. Prosecutor’s allege Lee got out of the Cavalier, went over to Mathews’ vehicle and shot him.

Fryback testified about evidence recovered from the crime scene. Of particular interest was a white cord to a phone charger found in the Cavalier.

Fryback said there was DNA mixture on the cord with a major male contributor. She said the likelihood it could be someone other than Lee was 1 in 328.5 million.

Fryback also tested a black phone charger found beside the crime scene. It had a DNA mixture of at least two people on it.

The DNA analyst said the chances that one of those people was not Lee were 1 in 17,790.

Defense attorney Josh Brown asked the disparity between the two items.

“It is a fairly big difference,” Fryback said.

Brown was not far along in his cross-examination of Fryback when Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson adjourned court for the day.

Thursday’s afternoon session went quickly. Fryback was the seventh witness.

John Gardner, a forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, said two shell casings tested at the scene were fired from the same gun. The murder weapon was never found.

Dr. Dorothy Dean, deputy medical examiner in Summit County, performed the autopsy. She said the bullet that killed Mathews went through major blood vessels and major organs, lodging in the liver. A second shot entered Mathews’ hip and exited his left buttock.

When the trial resumes Friday, prosecutors hope to get through nine or 10 witnesses.

mcaudill@gannett.com

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Twitter: @MNJCaudill