MACKENZIE COWELL - 17 yo (2010)/ Convicted: Christopher Wilson - Orondo WA

Unknown male DNA amongst Cowell evidence


Investigators also left trace cells on knife from crime scene


WENATCHEE — DNA testing on evidence in the Mackenzie Cowell murder investigation found genetic material from at least one unidentified male other than defendant Christopher Scott Wilson, his attorney says.
Defense attorney Keith Howard also says DNA from a local sheriff’s deputy and a State Patrol fingerprint analyst was on the handle of a knife found with Cowell’s body — but not that of Wilson, charged with killing the 17-year-old last February.



Mackenzie Cowell




Christopher Scott Wilson

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Read more of The Wenatchee World's coverage of the Mackenzie Cowell case here.

In an affidavit filed Thursday in Chelan County Superior Court, Howard cites reports from the Washington State Crime Lab in Cheney, which processed evidence in the teen’s disappearance and death. Cowell went missing Feb. 9 in Wenatchee; her body was found Feb. 13 at Crescent Bar. Wilson, 30, was arrested in October and now awaits trial for second-degree murder.
Howard filed the papers seeking court approval to hire a forensic lab to review the state lab’s work in the investigation. Judge John Bridges approved the motion Thursday, authorizing up to $10,000 in public money to hire DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield, Ohio.
Evidence considered in the crime lab analysis included a length of duct tape; a knife police said was found at the Crescent Bar scene; and swabs used to collect genetic material from the interior of Cowell’s car, found abandoned in Pitcher Canyon after her disappearance. Among the crime lab’s findings, as cited in Howard’s affidavit:
◆ The DNA of at least two males, one of them matching the profile of Wilson’s DNA, was found on the duct tape. The other male subject is not identified in the filing.
◆ Genetic material from at least three males was found on the knife handle. DNA testing excluded Wilson as a contributor, meaning genetic material matching his was not detected. One of the other two contributors was a latent-fingerprint analyst with the Washington State Patrol. “The crime lab also found that a Chelan County Sheriff’s Office detective was a possible contributor” to the DNA found on the handle, the affidavit reads.
◆ Male DNA was found on the fingernails of Cowell’s left hand. It did not match Wilson’s profile.
◆ Swabs of the interior of Cowell’s car found DNA on the steering wheel from an unidentified male, labeled “Individual F” by lab investigators. It’s not clear whether “Individual F” was the same as the unknown person whose genetic material was present on the knife handle and duct tape. Again, Wilson’s DNA was not found on the steering-wheel swabs.
◆ Wilson’s friend Tessa Schuyleman, 22, was arrested Dec. 15 on suspicion of rendering criminal assistance to Wilson after Cowell’s death, but has not been charged. In a Dec. 22 finding, Schuyleman “was excluded as being a contributor of genetic material on all of the evidence submitted to the crime lab,” the affidavit states.
By phone Friday, Howard would not disclose the names of the investigators whose DNA appeared on the evidence. The lab reports themselves remain in evidence and can’t be disclosed outside of court, Howard said.
Wenatchee Police Capt. Doug Jones, spokesman for the multi-agency Mackenzie Cowell Task Force that arrested Wilson, was out of his office for the week, and fellow spokesman Sgt. John Kruse could not be reached for comment Friday.
Dr. Gary Schutler, DNA technical manager for the State Patrol’s crime lab division, would not comment on the Cowell case specifically, but said the agency keeps genetic information on its own investigators and researchers, in case their DNA winds up in evidentiary samples.
Human cells can be transferred to an object by simple touch, Schutler said, and as few as 20 to 30 cells may lead to a DNA trace appearing on evidence.
“It’s very easy to have your DNA transferred to an item through the analysis,” Schutler said. “So we train people to avoid it, but invariably, it does happen. It’s just the nature of having such a sensitive testing system.”
DNA collected from the site where Cowell’s body was found was tested using Y-STR profiling, which locates DNA sequences called short tandem repeats (STRs) found on the Y chromosome — the one that determines male gender. A Y-STR profile cannot uniquely identify an individual, but can be used to match genetic material to a statistical pool of male suspects.
“You have the same Y-STR haplotype as your father, as your grandfather, as your son, as your brother,” Schutler said.
Generally the Y-STR method can produce a profile that statistically matches one in 2,700 men. A white male has a 1 in 1,047 chance of sharing Wilson’s Y-STR profile, according to the affidavit.
Howard said DNA Diagnostics Center is a respected firm whose staff scientists have given court testimony around the country. They’ll be given access to photographs, notes, reports and raw data to review the Cheney lab’s test results.
“They will interpret that data and then see if additional testing needs to be done,” Howard said. “That’s the first step.”
Wilson’s trial is set to begin March 8; a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/jan/22/unknown-male-dna-amongst-cowell-evidence/

Christopher Wilson, first-degree murder charge

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/documents/2011/apr/12/christopher-wilson-first-degree-murder-charge/

Charging memorandum (Warning: graphic descriptions)

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/documents/2011/apr/12/charging-memorandum/

Not-guilty plea, delay in Cowell murder trial
Monday, May 9, 2011

WENATCHEE — Christopher Scott Wilson again pleaded not guilty today to the murder of Mackenzie Cowell, as he was rearraigned on a charge of first-degree murder.

At the same Chelan County Superior Court hearing, the scheduled May 31 date for the start of his trial was canceled, with a new date yet to be assigned.

Wilson, 30, had been charged with second-degree murder in the 2010 death of Cowell, a 17-year-old Wenatchee High School senior and hairstyling student. Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen entered the new charge April 12, saying the injuries inflicted during the murder pointed toward premeditation — one of the prerequisites for a first-degree murder charge.

In his court appearance, Wilson did not speak except to enter his plea and answer questions from Judge John Bridges about whether he understood the charge and his rights.

Wilson and Cowell were fellow students at the Academy of Hair Design in Wenatchee. He’s accused of murdering Cowell Feb. 9, 2010, in his Okanogan Avenue apartment.

Her body was discovered four days later on the banks of Crescent Bar; she had been strangled, bludgeoned in the head and stabbed in the neck.

Police say Cowell’s blood was found in the living-room carpet of Wilson’s apartment, and that a length of duct tape found near her body contained Cowell’s blood and genetic material matching Wilson’s paternal DNA type.

Riesen and Wilson’s attorney, Chelan County Public Defender Keith Howard, asked to strike the May 31 trial date and set a new date at a May 23 hearing.

Howard said disclosure of key documents to his office from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab has been slow: Two weeks ago he received “a pile of reports” from the lab that had been completed in October.

He also said in some instances he’s received the results of evidence testing, but not the supporting documents.

Those documents would be turned over to DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield, Ohio, the forensics lab hired by the public defender to assess investigators’ evidence.

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/may/09/not-guilty-plea-delay-in-cowell-murder-trial/

A new trial date ... in a new town?
Wilson’s lawyer suggests a change of venue to come
WENATCHEE — If a new timetable holds, Christopher Scott Wilson’s trial in the murder of Mackenzie Cowell may coincide with the second anniversary of her death.

And it may not take place in Wenatchee, his defense attorney said.

Lawyers on Monday agreed to set a new trial date of Jan. 31, 2012, and hold four weeks open for trial. Cowell, 17, vanished from downtown Wenatchee Feb. 9, 2010, and was found dead four days later.

In a phone interview last week, Wilson’s incoming defense attorney John Henry Browne said he may seek to hold the first-degree murder trial somewhere other than Chelan County Superior Court, seeking an unbiased juror pool.

“I’m not sure this case will stay in Wenatchee,” Browne said from his Seattle office, “because it may be a case where pretrial publicity would allow a change of venue, which is very rare.”

Under Washington law, either defense or prosecution may move to reassign a criminal trial to another court. The sitting Superior Court judge makes the final order for a new venue.

In NCW, the measure was most recently used in the murder case against Lacey Hirst-Pavek, whose 2010 trial in the killing of Michelle Kitterman was moved from Okanogan to the courtroom of Douglas County Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss. Attorneys cited publicity involving the previous Okanogan County trials and convictions of Hirst-Pavek’s accomplices.

Hirst-Pavek was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder in Kitterman’s death, and first-degree manslaughter in the death of Kitterman’s unborn child. She is appealing the verdicts.

Cowell’s disappearance, the subsequent search and the discovery of her body sparked intense coverage by The Wenatchee World and other media from Seattle and Spokane, as well as online communities like Websleuths. Wilson’s October 2010 arrest, accompanied by police affidavits that painted him as obsessed “with death, dead bodies and serial killers,” brought further media scrutiny, plus even more input from online commenters.

“I rarely make those kind of motions,” Browne said of change-of-venue efforts, “but in this case, from what I’ve seen so far, I think we may be doing that.”

Browne was not in Chelan County court Monday. Wilson, 30, was instead represented by Browne’s associate Emma Scanlan. He surrendered his right to a speedy trial until March 1, 2012.

Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen noted that both sides had previously reserved about two weeks for a trial. Scanlan told Judge John Bridges more time would be needed.

“Obviously, we’ve just entered the case, but on our preliminary review of the discovery materials, I was thinking maybe three to four weeks,” Scanlan said.

Wilson and Cowell were fellow students at the Academy of Hair Design in Wenatchee, where she was last seen the day of her disappearance. Wilson is accused of murdering Cowell in his Okanogan Avenue apartment; police say her blood was found in the living-room carpet.

A length of duct tape near her body, discovered at the shoreline of Crescent Bar, contained Cowell’s blood and genetic material matching Wilson’s paternal DNA type, according to police documents.

Wilson, who’s been held since his arrest on $1 million cash bail in the Chelan County Regional Justice Center, was represented by Chelan County Public Defender Keith Howard until May 18, when Browne entered his notice of appearance. The high-profile defense lawyer, who previously worked on behalf of Ted Bundy and several defendants in the discredited Wenatchee sex abuse cases of the 1990s, was retained by Wilson’s family.

Another preliminary hearing will be held Sept. 28.

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/jun/06/a-new-trial-date-in-a-new-town-wilsons-lawyer/

Christopher Wilson gets 14 years in Mackenzie Cowell killing

Published On: May 23 2012 02:01:19 PM PDT  
Updated On: May 23 2012 06:31:27 PM PDT

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Christopher Wilson agreed to a plea deal Wednesday afternoon in the killing of Wenatchee teen Mackenzie Cowell and was immediately sentenced to more than 14 years in prison.

This development comes less than three days after jury selection began for Wilson's murder trial.

Wilson was sentenced to 14 years, 3 months in prison, the maximum sentence he faced for the killing. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, as well as second-degree assault on another woman.

Cowell, 17, was killed in February 2010. Her body was dumped in the Columbia River in Crescent Bar.

Police subsequently arrested Wilson for Cowell's murder.  Investigators said they found Cowell's blood on Wilson's carpet in his apartment. They also said they found his DNA on a roll of duct tape that was found near Cowell's body.

Wilson and Cowell were both students at the same beauty school. Cowell told her beauty school classmates she would be gone for 15 minutes just before she walked to her car and drove off.

Police found her body four days later. She had been struck in the head, strangled and stabbed to death.

http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/Christopher-Wilson-gets-14-years-in-Mackenzie-Cowell-killing/14073790