News| Duke Rape Case | DNA Link Found In Lacrosse Assault Case
May 12, 2006 – A new round of DNA tests in the racially charged alleged rape case involving White members of Duke University’s men’s lacrosse team and a Black dancer uncovered a positive match to one of the players, according to a local newspaper.
Police recovered several stick-on acrylic fingernails from a trashcan and the tissue in question was found under one of them, according to the Durham Herald Sun. The alleged rape victim told police she clawed her attackers as they raped and sodomized her at an off-campus party on March 13.
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District attorney Mike Nifong hired a private laboratory to do a second round of tests after the State Bureau of Investigation found no DNA from the 46 lacrosse players in or on the dancer's body, clothing or belongings.
Nifong has refused comment on the new DNA test. A final report from the lab is expected on Monday.
The potential fingernail tissue match would offer the first DNA evidence linking the dancer and a lacrosse team member who was at the party. So far, two players have been arrested on rape charges. Nifong has said he is looking to charge a third party.