DNA crucial in Mich. stabbing spree murder trial
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - A man knifed in the middle of night could barely speak to police but he left behind evidence that was 'more powerful than words'...
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A man knifed in the middle of night could barely speak to police but he left behind evidence that was “more powerful than words” — his blood discovered on possessions belonging to his alleged attacker, a prosecutor said Tuesday in the first murder trial arising from a 2010 stabbing spree in Michigan.
Arnold Minor’s DNA was in blood subsequently found in a Chevy Blazer and on shoes and jeans, all belonging to Elias Abuezalam, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in his opening statement to jurors.
Abuelazam “lured him close and brutally stabbed him to death, leaving him to die in a puddle of blood in a gutter on Saginaw Street,” Leyton said.
Minor, 49, was killed in August 2010, the last victim of a Flint-area stabbing spree that began a few months earlier. Abuelazam is charged with three murders and six attempted murders in Genesee County, although as many as 14 people were attacked that summer and six died.
Abuelazam also is charged with attempted murder in Toledo, Ohio, and is suspected in attacks in Leesburg, Va., where he formerly lived.
Officers who responded to Minor’s stabbing could only get him to say that his attacker was white, Leyton said.
“It wasn’t the only clue,” the prosecutor said. “He left behind something more powerful than words. He left behind his own blood. … As he laid there in the street, soon to meet his maker, he left behind a powerful road map for investigators.”
Abuelazam’s attorney, Brian Morley, said he would reserve his opening statement until prosecutors rest their case, which will take many days. At that time, he’ll reveal whether he’ll offer an insanity defense.
Stabbing victims who survived said Abuelazam would ask for directions or help with his SUV before jamming a knife into them. Jurors will hear from them.
Abuelazam, 35, was closely guarded in court by three sheriff’s officers. He was outfitted with an electronic device under his clothes that could zap him in case of any disturbance.
He was arrested at the Atlanta airport less than two weeks after Minor’s death, while trying to fly to Israel, his native country.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
