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The DNA laboratory delays frustratingly for detectives, dear victims

Posted on by Online Niel
The DNA laboratory delays frustratingly for detectives, dear victims

Brittni Montano hopes a break for her son every day. She was from November 2023. Then she learned that her 24 -year -old son John Gabaldon III, also known as the three, was killed. The detectives told him he was shot, beaten and thrown on Pajarito Mesa. Almost a year and a half later and still has no answers. “There must be DNA and other things that have to lead somewhere,” Montano said. There is DNA in the case of three. The detective of Bernalillo County, Cameron Carroll, presented it at the forensic laboratory of our state in January 2024. Montano was hopeful. But that gave way to frustration. Carroll said he finally achieved the results last month, 13 months later. The case had been in a stop.

Brittni Montano hopes a break for her son every day. She was from November 2023. Then she learned that her 24 -year -old son John Gabaldon III, also known as the three, was killed. The detectives told him he was shot, beaten and thrown on Pajarito Mesa. Almost a year and a half later and still has no answers.

“There must be DNA and other things that have to lead somewhere,” said Montano.

There is DNA in the case of three. The detective of Bernalillo County, Cameron Carroll, presented it at the forensic laboratory of our state in January 2024. Montano was hopeful. But that gave way to frustration. Carroll said he finally achieved the results last month, 13 months later. The case had been in a stop.

“We had to wait for the DNA to return because we arrived in a point where we worked most of the opportunities, if not all the advantages that have entered and slow down,” he said.

Carroll said before the pandemic, will receive the results of the laboratory DNA within six to eight months. Now he is waiting in some cases between 14 and 15 months. It’s hard for Montano to wrap his mind.

“Here we are a year and four months later and so many can happen at that time with these people,” she said. “They can be left, they can hurt other people.”

It’s not only frustrating for her, but also for Carroll.

“The faster we are capable of identifying people of interest, we can identify suspects, the more evidence we can collect,” he said.

The spokesman of the foreign forensic laboratory, Herman Lovato, said they were experiencing challenges of the 2020 staff, when they lost eight DNA scientists for a period of two years. He said they hired 10 DNA scientists in January 2024, but with the training it takes more than a year before they could work on their own.

Several requests for specialized DNA analysis and the application of new forensic technology also contribute to delays. Lovato said that the laboratory prioritizes the cases of haste for the courts and is expected that the transformation times have been improved since 2026.