Trial Set to Begin This Week for 22-year-old Cold Case Murder
By: Michaela MacDonald
Updated: September 23, 2012
Jury selection begins this week in the capital murder trial of Reynaldo Rey, accused in the beating death of a 93-year old great grandmother Minnie Elkins, back in 1989.
Last year, police tested a body hair found at the scene which matched Rey in a national DNA database.
Sgt. Jonathan Stewart of Lubbock Police Department spoke about finding the DNA match last May, "Submitted evidence to the DPS lab in Lubbock as a shot in the dark to see if we could obtain a DNA sample and possibly a match thanks to the advances in modern DNA technology we were able to obtain a modern DNA sample and also they were able to come up with a match."
Rey was extradited from Madera, California to Lubbock in May 2011, and is still being held at Lubbock County Detention Center. He was first indicted on one count of murder, but a grand jury later up-ed the charge to capital murder since police reports from the time show the murder may have occurred during a robbery.
Over the 22-year investigation, police had never considered Rey a suspect. But thanks to modern technology they were finally able to track him down.
"Evidence had been submitted in the past; however, the technology hadn't gotten to a point where we were able to obtain any usable samples."
Jury selection and pre-trial motions are expected to begin on Tuesday at the 137th District Court.
