No murder weapons were ever found in the case of Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi. However, scientists used DNA profiling to prove that samples collected during the investigation were a billion times more likely to come from two specific dogs than any other animals. The results conclusively linked them to Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi’s death.
The dogs used in the attack on Oluwaseyi, who was known as Seyi, were an adult male pit bull-mastiff cross named Tyson and an adult female pit bull-Staffordshire cross called Mia. The case was viewed as highly unusual by detectives because in the initial stages of the attack in Larkhall Park, Stockwell, dogs were deployed as weapons before Seyi was repeatedly stabbed and beaten to death in April 2009. The dogs also received several knife wounds in the attack.
Tyson, who was owned by Chrisdian Johnson, 23, left a blood trail when he and his owner ran away from the scene of the crime. When police arrested Chrisdian, his victim’s blood was on his hands and there was also blood from his dog on his body. Saliva from the other dog Mia, owned by Darcy Menezes, 18, was discovered on torn clothing found in the park.
Forensic zoologist, Dr Rob Ogden, said: “The technique we have is the first one in the UK that allows us to link an individual sample back to an individual dog with a very strong level of certainty.
It’s the first time we’ve also used the population database we now have for dogs. The probability of seeing the same DNA in another dog is less than one in a billion.”
Read the whole story here.