DNA leads to arrest in 1999 Philly killing

    Police say they’ve solved a 13-year-old homicide that happened when two men argued over a Philadelphia parking space.

    Investigators say they used DNA evidence from a dropped hat to charge 44-year-old Alexis Orona with murder in the December 1999 killing of James Schumacher.

     

    Orona allegedly stabbed Schumacher as they argued over a parking space while Schumacher put his infant daughter into a car. Schumacher died three days later, after telling his wife not to touch the hat in case it could be used as evidence.

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    Authorities say the technology to extract DNA from the hat didn’t exist in 1999.

    Orona was in custody in an unrelated case when he was charged last month. 

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