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Expert Links DNA Of Woman In Defendant's Truck

Defense Focuses On Volume Of Blood Analysts Found

POSTED: 10:33 pm HST March 13, 2008

Experts in criminal DNA investigation testified on Thursday that a missing woman's blood was in the truck of pest control technician Kirk Lankford.

They said they chance that the DNA was not Masumi Watanabe's was 305 trillion to one.

Police tested the interior of Lankford's pest control truck for blood and DNA. Even though Lankford may have cleaned the truck with bleach, authorities said they found a few samples large enough to provide DNA.

"If you look at the most common frequency estimate, which is one in 304.8 trillion, I would say it's very rare," Honolulu Police Department DNA analyst Samantha Kashimoto said.

Glasses found in the truck also carried Watanabe's DNA, the analyst said.

Lankford's defense attorney did not directly challenge the DNA findings. His questions focused on establishing how little blood was confirmed in the truck despite a fluorescent test that seemed to show dramatic blood splattering.

"You tested that and that came up negative for blood?" defense attorney Don Wilkerson asked.

"Yes, that's not blood," Kashimoto said.

She said it still could be a very low concentration of blood. She also agreed fresh fruit could falsely show up as blood.

The defense jumped on that, asking her to look at the rubbish on the truck floor.

"Do you see fruit juice there?" Wilkerson asked.

"Yeah," Kashimoto said.

Emphasizing how little blood was inside the truck is a way for the defense could challenge the idea that Watanabe died there in a violent struggle. Lankford may claim her death was an accident.

The jury will tour the Pupukea area where the murder was allegedly committed on Friday.
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