Crime & Courts

Anchorage detective says victim's DNA found on accused double-murderer's body

An Anchorage detective testified Thursday in the double murder case against Jerry Active that DNA from one of the alleged victims, a 2-year-old girl, was found on Active's body following his arrest.

Active, 26, is charged with killing an Anchorage couple -- Touch Chea and Sorn Sreap -- in their Mountain View apartment in May 2013. He is also accused of sexually assaulting three generations of their family, including the young girl and her 90-year-old great-great-grandmother, and assaulting two relatives living in the same apartment who returned home to find their loved ones dead from blunt-force trauma.

Defense attorney Chong Yim has argued Active was never in the apartment. He admits his client fought the relatives, Von and Minesoreta Seng, outside the home but contends the real culprit could have escaped through a window.

Yim had also argued during opening statements last week that the state lacked DNA evidence to tie Active to the crimes.

The defense attorney questioned Detective Harry Strahle, who testified about the DNA on the stand Thursday, attempting to cast doubt on the results found by analysts at the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage. Yim asked if the fight outside the apartment could have compromised the DNA evidence.

Active and the Sengs were bleeding after the altercation, according to testimony.

Yim asked if the physical evidence lined up with the Sengs' accounts of the crimes; he said the statements they gave to police were inconsistent.

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"You keep saying the statements of (the Sengs) are the only reason (Active) was placed inside the apartment," the detective said to Yim, "and I'm telling you their statements along with physical evidence say he was inside the apartment."

Not all of the DNA samples submitted to the crime lab in the case were tested, said Strahle. It is common for the lab not to test everything submitted, he said.

Superior Court Judge Philip Volland said the case is proceeding faster than anticipated. Witness testimony is set to continue next week.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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