Huntsville Times, The (AL)
February 26, 2008
DNA shows Moore likely at scene
Author: DAVID HOLDEN; Times Staff Writer
Tests examined hair found on bed of Karen Tipton
Capital murder suspect Daniel Wade Moore is 7.5 million times more likely to
have contributed to the DNA mixture on a pubic hair police discovered on Karen
Tipton's bed than any other random white male, a forensic consultant testified
Monday.
Rodger Morrison, a former DNA examiner for the state Department of Forensic
Sciences, said that is a big number considering the population breakdown of
several Southern states.
An independent laboratory in Louisiana conducted further tests, using a different
method that does not exclude Moore, Morrison said.
The trial for Moore entered its third week Monday. Moore, 34, is accused of
fatally beating and stabbing and robbing Tipton, a Decatur homemaker, inside
her house on Chapel Hill Road on March 12, 1999.
Moore became a suspect after telling his uncle he was present when Tipton was
murdered. He had also worked for the burglar alarm company that serviced the
Tipton home. The company's owner, testified that Moore accompanied him at
least once on a service call at the Tipton home.
The prosecution is scheduled to rest its case today after more testimony from
Morrison and the victim's husband, Dr. David Tipton. It remains to be seen if
Moore will testify in his own defense.
John Case, a former trace examiner for DFS, told the jury he isolated three hairs
from dozens collected in the Tipton household. Those were identified as pubic
hairs and were compared with known pubic hair samples from Tipton and Moore.
He judged one hair from the bed, suitable for DNA testing, bore similar
characteristics to Moore's pubic hair. Two other hairs with similar characteristics
were taken from a towel and a wash cloth found in the master bedroom. Case
sent the hairs to Morrison.
Morrison conducted his test for DNA on the genetic material inside the cell
nucleus of the genetic mixture. He said his findings indicate that Moore is more
likely to have contributed to the genetic mixture on the hair from the bed than any
white male in Alabama and Mississippi combined. The other significant
contributor to the mixture is Karen Tipton.
Genetic marker
Only one genetic marker in the mixture on the hair is consistent with David
Tipton's genetic profile, Morrision said.
An independent laboratory in Louisiana, ReliaGene Labs, examined the
mitochondria, a cellular particle, of the cells from the hair shaft, Morrison said.
The lab determined Moore is 350 times more likely to have contributed the hair
than any other random white male, he said.
Copyright, 2008, The Huntsville Times. All Rights Reserved.