DNA evidence identifies cold case suspect

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Los Angeles police said DNA evidence from the 1997 killing of a mother and son helped identify a suspect.

The Los Angeles Times said Friday while technology was not advanced enough to analyze DNA evidence at the time of the 1997 double slaying, new technology linked Rafael Martinez to the deaths of Nancy Boehm and her son, Shawn.

Boehm, 57, and her 23-year-old mentally impaired son were found stabbed to death inside their Los Angeles home in September 1997. The case went unsolved until the recent evidence findings.

Police said evidence found under Boehm's fingernails after her death was a partial match to Martinez, who is currently serving time at the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for a 2001 killing. He will likely be transferred to a Los Angeles jail as part of the cold case investigation.

Lt. Alan Hamilton of the North Hollywood Division said Martinez also lived near Boehm's house in 1997.

"Although it is often described as a cold case, we've stayed with this case because of … the particularly brutal nature of this murder," Hamilton told the Times. "You basically have two people in a house, and they're basically slaughtered."