Home / Crime and Justice / DNA Links Fugitive to Cold Case Murder
DNA Links Fugitive to Cold Case Murder
15 Jan
Summary
- DNA evidence connected suspect to a 2017 murder case after his 2022 conviction.
- A 1999 murder case was reopened after the suspect's DNA was linked.
- The suspect was apprehended in 2019 after being on the run for two years.
A suspect apprehended in 2019 after a two-year manhunt is now linked to a 1999 homicide through DNA evidence. This breakthrough occurred after his 2022 conviction for the murder of his former girlfriend, Michelle Clarke, in Weymouth in 2017. His DNA profile was uploaded to the FBI's CODIS system following the Weymouth conviction.
Investigators subsequently connected Bell's DNA to a cigarette butt found in Caryn Bonner's apartment, the victim of the 1999 murder. Authorities also re-examined latent fingerprints in blood recovered from the scene, successfully matching one to Bell. Bonner's sister found her deceased in her kitchen on May 19, 1999, after not hearing from her for several days.
Bell fled the 2017 murder scene in the victim's truck, which was later found in Florida. He was arrested near Miami. The suspect's next court appearance for the Bonner case is slated for February 19. Officials emphasized that no homicide case is ever considered unsolvable, regardless of how much time has passed.
