By Kathy Brown
Back on April 21, 2017, a Mercury Mountaineer was stolen from a driveway on Saybrook Road in Higganum. Later that week, on April 26, that Mountaineer was found in Portland, Conn. After a lengthy investigation, in August of 2017, Lisa Kroeber was arrested for the theft of the Mountaineer and in September 2017, another arrest was made: Frank Goodrich. 
In that investigation, Haddam Resident Trooper Milardo processed the Mountaineer for the presence of DNA that was later determined to be a match to Goodrich, along with a stolen vehicle that was dumped on Thayer Road, and a recovered vehicle out of Middlefield last January.
The CT Forensic Science Lab confirmed his diligent police work. We thought we would look into how DNA is used in local crimes. The Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory, located in Meriden, is responsible for all forensic examinations for the State of Connecticut. They investigate physical evidence, assist in the field investigation and provide other technical assistance and training, forward written reports of results to the agency that submitted the evidence, render expert testimony, and conduct research in forensic sciences. “The lab usually expedites DNA analysis for cases such as murder, sexual assaults, and other serious crimes, before other less serious crimes.” Trooper Milardo said.
DNA evidence can be used to solve crimes in two ways: if a suspect is identified, a sample of that person’s DNA is compared to evidence from the crime scene; and, in a case where there is no suspect, evidence from the crime scene can be analyzed and then compared to offender profiles in DNA databases to identify the person.
Back in 2012, there were news stories about the backlog of DNA evidence in Connecticut. According to this article in The New Haven Register, “nearly 12,000 cases submitted to the state forensic crime laboratory were sitting on the shelf.” In January 2013, Guy Vallaro took over as the lab’s director. He hired 16 people, outsourced some of the work to other states, and created a case management department and a quality assurance department, to change the way they did business. They also purchased new technology: they can analyze “touch DNA” where they can pick skin cells off of surfaces, they can check bullets for markings or grooves which can’t be seen with the naked eye, they can look at cell phone and computer data and recover deleted information, and they can purify DNA samples faster.
One thing that made DNA evidence easier, is the requirement by all 50 states that offenders who are convicted of certain types of crimes to provide DNA samples to put into the DNA database.
Frank Goodrich had already been arrested for the crime due to good old-fashioned police work by Trooper Milardo when the DNA confirmation returned from the lab; however, this confirmation reinforced the evidence against the accused.
“It is very satisfying knowing that even after months or years after the crime was committed that the processing of a crime scene for the presence of DNA can result in a DNA ‘hit’ or match to a suspect,” said Trooper Milardo. “DNA evidence is superior to an eyewitness, but it can also exonerate the innocent.”
