Brett Nauman
Daily Egyptian
A pair of blood-stained pants that police hoped would link an Energy man to the unsolved shooting death of an SIUC student recently returned from the state's DNA lab with negative results, Carbondale Police Chief R.T. Finney said.
The pants were collected from the home of David W. Hammond, 27, within a week of a shooting that left Marcus Thomas, a 21-year-old SIUC psychology student, dead. Hammond told the officers who collected the pants that he cut his finger while working at Orpack Stone, a box manufacturing company in Herrin. Testing conducted at the state's crime lab corroborated his statement, confirming the blood was his.
Thomas was shot in the back two times near his 300 E. College St. home and ran from his killer through the housing projects of South Marion Street. Police didn't find out about the crime for about six hours when a Carbondale woman discovered Thomas lying in a pool of blood on her living room floor.
Finney said investigators questioned Hammond within a week of the shooting as soon as they learned Thomas had been involved in a relationship with Hammond's wife, Melanie. Although the evidence confirms what Hammond told police, he has not been ruled as the killer in the Thomas case, Finney said.
"I don't think we've completely ruled out anyone at this point," Finney said.
An element that has worked against police solving the crime from the beginning is the six-hour interval between the shooting and when Thomas was found. The fact that Thomas was shot outside of his home has also limited the success police have had with physical evidence.
"You got to remember we didn't have a good crime scene, because the majority of everything was outside," Finney said. "Public area is not a good crime scene for transfer evidence, because people walk in and out of there."
Finney said police have known about the DNA results from Hammond's pants for a while but waited to release the information to the Daily Egyptian in order to follow up investigative leads.
The results took more than a year to receive because police had no hard evidence to tie Hammond to the shooting. Finney said the state's crime lab is currently backlogged with hundreds of cases, and because the pants weren't directly tied to the crime scene, they were considered of lower priority.
"Had this been evidence that was found at the scene or on Marcus Thomas himself, it would have shot it to the forefront in terms of testing," Finney said.
The only reason police obtained the pants in the first place was because Hammond consented when detectives asked to search his home.
Had he refused their request, investigators could have searched Hammond's home only if a judge authorized a search warrant. Finney said police didn't have any evidence other than the motive of Thomas' relationship with Hammond's wife to present as probable cause for a warrant.
"Honestly, we wouldn't have had enough for a search warrant at that point," Finney said. "Which means if you don't, you might as well knock on the door and ask."
Reporter Brett Nauman can be reached at bnauman@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
