ISLE OF WIGHT, Co. - Investigators tested the DNA of a Virginia Beach man during the investigation into the unsolved murder of Carrie Singer, according to a search warrant.
Someone murdered Singer in 2004 and left her body in a farmer's field in Isle of Wight County. Recently, investigators released a description of a suspect, using cutting edge technology based on DNA evidence.
With the sketch out in the public, investigators got a Crime Line tip about a man resembling the sketch, the search warrant says. The man is named in the search warrant, but News 3 isn't naming him because he hasn't been charged in the investigation.
Image of suspect
While investigators pursed this lead, they discovered the man worked in Isle of Wight County as a landscaper around that time and has ties to Newport News, according to the court documents. Singer was staying in Newport News before she was discovered murdered.
A different person told investigators someone confessed to killing Singer "while they were working, doing landscaping in Isle of Wight County," but he wouldn't give the person's name, the search warrant says.
The man who resembles the sketch also has been previously charged with strangulation, burglary, and assault and battery on a family member, but his DNA was not in Virginia's DNA tracking system, the search warrant says. Investigators swabbed the inside of his mouth for DNA.
During a news conference earlier this month, Sheriff Mark Marshall described the suspect as a Latino man. As investigators looked into the Crime Line tip, they tracked down the man's ex-wife. "She told us that it is said that [the man's] mother had an affair with a man of Mexican decent and shortly after the affair [the man] was born," the search warrant says.
In an interview, Lt. Tommy Potter, the lead investigator, wouldn't comment on specifics, but said there have been several leads. "The best way to eliminate a lot of these persons of interest is to simply just ask for a DNA sample," he said. "We would not be doing our due diligence if we did not purse any lead that comes in."
