3 days ago
Forensic breakthrough leads to out-of-state arrest in 2019 killing of Arlington teen, police say
DNA found in the car of a teen killed in Arlington in 2019 has led to the arrest of a man in Illinois on a murder charge, according to Arlington police.
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Darnell Jones II, 22, was apprehended in Chicago on Sunday with assistance from the Chicago Police Department. He was taken into custody without incident, police said Wednesday in a news release.
Jones is accused of killing 19-year-old Evan Lacey, who was last seen leaving his home on Dec. 17, 2019. Four days later, investigators found Lacey's blue 2006 Dodge Magnum abandoned on South Hughes Avenue with a large amount of blood inside.
Lacey's body was discovered by a utility crew investigating a water leak on Jan. 3, 2020, in a wooded area off Webb Ferrell Road. The body was badly decomposed; identification was made through fingerprint analysis by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, which determined Lacey died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Suspect linked by phone, DNA
Evan Lacey
Arlington Police Department
According to investigators, cellphone records showed calls between Lacey and a number linked to Jones on the day Lacey disappeared. The two phones were later tracked to a location near where Lacey's body was discovered.
DNA from Lacey's car revealed a mix of Lacey's and an unknown male's DNA, police said.
Cold case cracked with forensics
In March, detectives consulted a lab with advanced DNA separation technology. The following month, the lab successfully isolated a DNA profile from the car that matched Jones, according to Arlington police.
Authorities said they received tips identifying Jones as a possible suspect following heavy media coverage of the murder.
Police: Justice for Evan Lacey
"Our detectives hit many roadblocks throughout this investigation, but they never gave up," Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said. "I'm proud of the outstanding police work they did and the proactive measures they took to identify the new technologies that ultimately helped us solve this case.
"It's my hope that this news provides Mr. Lacey's family with some relief and some semblance of closure that I know they've desperately waited for."
Jones, who has declined to speak with detectives, is awaiting extradition to Tarrant County.
