Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A 28-year-old cold case resurfaces with new charges in the murder of a Woods Cross woman.
Davis County prosecutors refiled murder charges against a man who was cleared last year in the murder. Prosecutors say they have a better case now because of new DNA evidence.
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings filed the murder charge against 57-year-old Ed Owens yesterday, but he refused to talk to us on camera today.
This case stems from the 1980 murder of 25-year-old Karin Strom. Prosecutors charged Owens last year, but the case was dismissed in December 2007 because of weak DNA evidence.
Now police believe there's new DNA evidence that could convict Owens. The arrest warrant states clothing was resubmitted to the Utah State Crime Lab for additional DNA testing. Its report was issued, showing that blood from the defendant was located on her clothing.
Owen's former attorney, Michael Studebaker, doubts they have a strong case. Studebaker says, "They thought they had DNA that was going to lead to his conviction before, and now they're saying they have some type of blood evidence. I haven't seen it, not sure how it was tested, not sure anything about the evidence other than what's in the arrest warrant."
Studebaker wouldn't comment on Owen's whereabouts. He did say the case is very frustrating because it's just so old. He says, "I think the biggest issues, just from the last time I worked on this case, the biggest issues we had related to memories, where people were, what they said. This is a long time ago. I have some concerns about evidence and how, you know, things have changed a lot. Science has changed considerably in the last 28 years, so I have concerns about how the evidence is presented, how it was stored, things like that. But one of the things we did notice at the last run through on this, and hopefully this is the last run through on this, but the last time there were issues related to memories and what people remembered from so long ago."
Woods Cross police wouldn't comment, either, referring us here to the district attorney's office.
Owen's hasn't talked to the media, but his mother says he's been in contact with police.
E-mail: ngonzales @ksl.com
