Sources: DNA Links OWS Subway Protest To 2004 Murder Of Sarah Fox
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Eight years after Juilliard student Sarah Fox was found dead in upper Manhattan, new evidence has emerged in the case.
The 21-year-old's body was found in a heavily wooded section of Inwood Park, naked and surrounded by tulip petals. Police said she had been strangled.
Fox disappeared while jogging in the spring of 2004 and one of the few clues was a DNA sample from the CD player she was carrying.
1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports
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But now, NYPD detectives have linked DNA from the murder scene to DNA found at an Occupy Wall Street protest in March at the Beverly Road subway station, according to sources.
Surveillance video from the March demonstration shows Occupy Wall Street protesters at the East Flatbush subway station propping open the gates so straphangers could ride for free.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports
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The chain protesters used to keep the gate ajar, seen clearly on the video, was tested for DNA and the sample was found to match the DNA collected and preserved from Fox's CD player, an official said.
Investigators aren't sure what it means yet, acknowledging it could be a coincidence rather than a link to her killer, sources said.
"The fact that there's a linkage that's been established between these two crime scenes could be the break in this case everyone has been looking for," forensic expert Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky said.
Detectives said they still believe suspect Dimitry Sheinman is responsible for Fox's death, though they have never had the evidence to prove it and he has always denied it.
"I am not the killer. People like me are not killers. I'm an artist," Sheinman said recently.
After questioning Sheinman at the time, detectives were convinced he had killed Fox, reportedly because he revealed details of the crime scene only the killer would know. However, he was never charged in the case.
Sheinman had been living in South Africa for five years and has written a 250,000-word book about the murder.
After returning to the U.S., Sheinman walked into a local police precinct in June and handed over a letter titled "Highly Confidential Clairvoyant Information From Dimitry Sheinman To 34th Precinct NYPD."
He said in it was the name of the true killer that came to him in psychic "visions."
Sources said the DNA sample does not match Sheinman nor does it match any of Fox's friends or roommates. Police said while they have a match, they don't have anyone in their database linked to that match, so the source of the DNA is still unknown.
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