About ten years ago, an 11 year old Floridian girl named Cherie Morrisette was found dead in a river. At the crime scene, forensic investigators tried to find clues that would help them find out how the victim died. Investigators found samples of semen on the body of the girl, and they tried to identify her killer. It took police ten years to track down Cherie’s murderer.

     What took police so long to track down the girl’s killer? The answer is poor communication, technology, and inter-relationship between DNA profiling labs. It took over 9 years for the Biology Laboratory of the Florida Police Department of Law Enforcement to produce a DNA profile of murderer. Why did it take so long to create this profile? This is an outrageously large amount of time allotted for creating a DNA profile of a person. With samples of DNA from sperm, the police Department could have created the profile in 9 days instead of 9 years. This shows a true lack of communication between certain departments within the police force.

     After this profile was produced, it was sent to the nationwide DNA bank. Their profile was matched to the known sex offender Robert Shelton Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was picked up in Connecticut where he was recently released from prison for having sexual contact with a thirteen year old, and was later convicted of Cherie’s murder.

     Forensic DNA labs must find a way to work more quickly and efficiently. If they could catch criminals faster, there would be less repeat offenders running loose.