15-Aug-2023

Norma Lopez cold case homicide presented at CHIA conference

A Cybergenetics DNA mixture cold case was presented this month at the California Homicide Investigators Association (CHIA) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham spoke about the Norma Lopez murder that Cybergenetics helped solve.

In July 2010, Norma Lopez (17) disappeared after leaving her Valley View High School summer class; she never made it home. Her partially clad body was found five days later. Her earrings and jeans from the crime scene were tested. The crime lab found the DNA of Lopez, mixed with the DNA of someone else.

In September 2011, a DNA database search linked Lopezʼ earrings to Jesse Torres (42), who lived near the high school. But limited government interpretation methods couldnʼt make the needed statistical connection. When labs canʼt resolve DNA evidence, investigators turn to TrueAllele.

In March 2013, Cybergenetics re-examined the crime labʼs DNA mixture data. Their TrueAllele computer technology found that a match between Norma Lopezʼ earrings and Torresʼ DNA was 18,000 times more probable than coincidence. TrueAllele also associated Torres with the victimʼs jeans.

In February 2019, Cybergenetics chief scientist Dr. Mark Perlin testified about the TrueAllele results. The next month a Riverside jury convicted Torres of first- degree murder.

Links

• Cybergenetics DNA evidence helps convict California killer of teenager Norma Lopez - Newsroom