A blood sample previously obtained from him was an exact DNA match to the evidence collected from the girl's clothing, the sheriff's office said.
In October, a new forensic technology called"M-Vac" was used to test evidence believed to be on the girl's clothing, the sheriff's office said.
In April, forensic scientists with the Texas Department of Public Safety identified an unknown male DNA profile from the evidence and that was sent to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS database. The database identified Gerald Casey of Conroe, and additional testing last week of a blood sample previously obtained from him was an exact DNA match to the evidence collected from the girl's clothing, confirming Casey as her killer, the sheriff's office said.
When deputies searched for Casey, 47, they found out that he had been executed in April 2002 for fatally shooting a Montgomery County woman during a robbery in 1989. that Casey's accomplice in that crime, 36-year-old Carla Smith, testified against him. Smith was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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