From Deseret News archives:
Man arrested in 1980 killing
Suspect's DNA tied to stangulation of Woods Cross woman
And once again, Salt Lake-based Sorenson Forensics, who helped Salt Lake City police crack three of their cold cases recently, was responsible for helping investigators.
Edward Owens, 56, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of homicide for the 1980 strangulation death of Karin Strom. He was scheduled to be arraigned today.
DNA found under Strom's fingernails was positively matched to Owens' DNA, according to authorities. Both DNA samples tested were taken nearly 27 years ago but were preserved. Those samples were sent off for testing in late February. The results came back Wednesday.
"I told (Owens) the results were back and he needed to come in and talk to me," said Woods Cross Police Sgt. Brad Benson.
Owens surrendered without incident at the police station.
Owens was a person of interest when the murder happened in 1980. But the technology at the time wasn't able to make a positive DNA match. Strom's husband, Stephen, was another person of interest in the slaying and was actually arrested in 1980 and charged with second-degree criminal homicide. The case was dropped after hearsay evidence was tossed out by a judge.
Benson said he had been following the recent success of Salt Lake City police with Sorensen and decided to give them a try. Originally he had several DNA samples for the company to test. But after a recent interview with Owens in which he seemed evasive with his answers, Benson said he moved Owens' DNA to the top of the list to be tested.
"I tried to get certain information on the phone. He wasn't real cooperative," he said.
Owens was out of town in mid-February when Benson talked to him on the phone, police said. When Benson told him what they planned to do with the DNA and asked him to return to Utah to submit a sample, he didn't return for three weeks. During that time, Benson decided to go with the old DNA sample.
"My gut instinct, I felt he knew more about this than he told us in 1980, so I moved his DNA up the list to be tested first," he said.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
