A 68-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested in the cold-case murder of a 22-year-old 7-Eleven clerk in California 47 years ago after new DNA analysis technology led to a break in the case.
Police arrested Carlin Edward Cornett on September 14 at his Nevada home in connection to the 1974 fatal stabbing of Marine Corps veteran Christy Bryant. A motive was not released by police.
Bryant had been working alone on the early morning shift at a 7-Eleven on Highland Avenue in National City on July 31 when she was brutally stabbed to death, police said.
She had moved to San Diego in 1971 where she served in the Marine Corps, but was medically discharged in 1972 after she was injured in a car crash, police said.
The 7-Eleven where the stabbing took place is now a Dominos pizza.
Police arrested Carlin Edward Cornett, 68, (left) in connection to the 1974 stabbing of 7-Eleven clerk Christy Bryant after advances in DNA testing led to a break in the case
The investigation of the killing yielded no leads and the case went cold, but police had collected blood samples, apparently from the suspect, found at the scene.
At the time, however, DNA testing wasn't available, according to National City Investigations Lt. Derek Aydelotte.
'Throughout the years, different NCPD detectives looked at the case, but no firm leads were developed,' Aydelotte said in a statement.
In 2008, the blood was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, but didn't turn up any results, according to KVVU.
'The DNA profile from the blood evidence remained in the system and was searched regularly with no hits,' Aydelotte said.
Police had collected blood samples from the scene of the stabbing, a 7-Eleven in National City, but DNA testing was not available at the time, and the case went cold. The location is now a Dominos pizza
In 2012, detectives with National City police requested that the San Diego Sheriff's Office perform a Y-STR analysis on the blood, which is typically used in familial DNA testing, Oxygen reported.
