Sara Lynn Wineski Case Study

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On May 22, 2005, the body of Sara Lynn Wineski, a homeless women, was found underneath a deck at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg. She was forty-nine years old and appeared to be strangled and raped to death. A resident told authorities that they heard screams around 11 p.m. the night before they found her body. DNA evidence was collected that night and years later, police were able to match the DNA from the scene to Raymond Samuels. Testing confirmed that it was Samuels’ DNA that was collected from the scene and also his DNA was found on the belt used to strangle Wineski. By the time they discovered it was Samuels’ DNA, he was already in prison in Ohio, for robbing and attacking an elderly couple. He was sentenced twenty-nine years.

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