Little Rock Police reveal how they made their case against Anne Pressly's accused killer. The arrest affidavit confirms "with all scientific certainty" that DNA from Curtis Vance, 28 matches DNA evidence inside Pressly's home. It matches what FOX16
first reported Friday.
Police say that Vance's DNA is also linked to the rape of a Marianna school teacher last April. It took seven months for the DNA evidence to be processed in the attack in Lee County. Seven months that Vance was out on the street.
The crime lab director says it takes on average five months for evidence to get processed here at the Arkansas State Crime Lab. But he says he doesn't believe the length of time it took to process a crime Vance is accused of this spring had any effect on what happened to Anne Pressly.
State Crime Lab Director Kermit Channell has already heard all the claims.
"If you didn't have a backlog then maybe this could have been prevented," Channell recounts.
FOX16 first reported it took seven months for the crime lab to process a sexual assault in Marianna and come up with DNA that matched evidence found at Pressly's home. The reason is a backlog of cases, preventing Vance from being arrested for seven months.
"The better you are as far as eliminating a backlog the chances of that happening become less likely," Channell admits.
Channell says the crime lab has eight DNA analysts, with four in training. Training takes up to a year. Processing physical evidence averages three months, DNA an average of two months.
"Our goal is within 30 days in every section,” Channell says. “We're not there yet, we're getting closer and closer but these things take time."
In Pressly's case the time to process DNA was a lot quicker because Channell says violent cases with no suspects get moved to the front.
“So if we have a case and we know that it’s very brutal and law enforcement doesn't know who the perpetrator is there's a risk to the community of someone at large," Channell says.
Marianna police told FOX16 News Friday they thought they had a suspect in their April attack. When crime lab results came back last week, DNA cleared their original suspect. Vance was then brought in as a possible suspect in some unsolved burglaries.
"I don't think that we could have done anything differently in this case or in another case that would have prevented something from occurring," Channell says.
The crime lab says it is not the people or money. It's receiving an additional $1.7 million a year in state funding since the 2005 legislative session. Channell says that money will help them continue to get to their goal of a 30 day turnaround for DNA cases.
Sargeant Carl McCree with the Marianna Police Department said he would not comment whether he thought the length of time it took to process his case played any role in keeping Vance from being caught earlier.
"The crime lab does a good job, the best it can do," McCree told FOX16 News Monday. "They handle cases all over the state in every county. I have no problems with the timeliness of how they handled our case here in Lee County."
McCree says they looked to Vance because of recent burglaries in Marianna and the arrest of his girlfriend, Shaemika Cooper, 25
in West Helena for pawning stolen items. McCree says there are no other unsolved sexual assaults he is investigating, but he is looking at Vance as a suspect in burglaries in which he was spotted in a home, but left without confronting the homeowner.
McCree added he spent most of the day with a New York crew from the ABC news magazine 20/20 on Monday for an upcoming episode featuring the Pressly case.
Pressly's parents Patti and Guy Cannady told NBC's Matt Lauer on The Today Show Monday morning they believe the KATV anchorwoman was sexually assaulted and that she broke her left hand trying to fight off her attacker.
