Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Thursday, June 6, that an Ohio man was charged with the 2005 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, a Bronx resident, after advancements in DNA technology linked him to her murder.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “The defendant thought he successfully escaped responsibility for this heinous act. Thanks to the forensic expertise and the determination of investigators, he now faces justice. My prosecutor told the victim’s daughter that her mother’s alleged killer was finally charged in court, and she said [in part], ‘You have no idea what you have done for us. I have no words’.’”

 

Clark said the defendant, James Devore, 54, of Mansfield Ohio, was arraigned on Thursday by Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was remanded in custody, and is due back in court on June 18.

 

According to the investigation, Erica Robertson, 29, had been in an intimate relationship with Devore until 2004. On the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, the victim, along with her daughter and Devore’s daughter, were in an apartment located at 1246 Grant Avenue, west of the Claremont Village section of The Bronx. The next morning, the victim’s daughter entered her mother’s bedroom and found her bloody body on the floor and a work glove nearby. The victim had been stabbed in the chest.

 

After the incident, the defendant moved to Ohio. In early December of 2005, detectives from the 44^th Precinct interviewed him there and afterwards secured a discarded cigarette butt.

 

In 2005, the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s department of forensic biology examined the cigarette butt and the glove recovered in the case. They were able to develop DNA profiles. In July of 2020, the Cold Case Unit of the NYPD revived the investigation.

 

In 2022, the victim’s nails were located, tested and compared to the evidence in the case. Testing revealed that there was male DNA on her fingernails and that it matched the DNA on the cigarette butt and the glove. Officials from the DA’s office said that due to advances made in DNA technology over the intervening 18 years, the lab was able to achieve the match result.

 

They said a grand jury voted on an indictment on May 22, and the defendant was brought into custody on May 29 by U.S. Marshals in Ohio, and NYPD detectives brought him to The Bronx on June 5.

 

The case is being prosecuted by David Birnbaum, trial counsel of the Domestic Violence Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Allison Kline of the Domestic Violence Bureau under the supervision of Agata DiGiovanni, chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Adrienne Giunta, deputy chief of the Special Victims Division and Joseph Muroff, chief of the Special Victims Division.

 

Clark thanked David Slott, chief of the Bronx DA’s forensic sciences unit, DNA specialist Nana Lamouse-Welch and forensic analyst Lindsay Cooper for their assistance on the case.

 

She also thanked NYPD Cold Case Unit Lt. Mike Saccone, Det. Rahmaan Wiltshire and Det. Mark Konecni, as well as retired Det. Daniel Scanlon and Det. Robert Regnier of the 47th Precinct squad.

 

Clark also thanked the City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s department of forensic biology for their work on the case.