Tests fail to tie man to killing

Web posted Saturday, January 20, 2001

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - The DNA may not match, but an Aiken County prosecutor said he still believes an Aiken inmate is responsible for killing Jessica Carpenter.

Laboratory results released Friday show no match between semen found at the crime scene and DNA samples obtained from Tonnie Nathaniel Baldwin, the 23-year-old Aiken man named as the culprit by a jailhouse informant.

•Tests fail to tie man to killing  •Judge grants bond to slaying suspect  •Suspect has other charges  •Killer is in jail, informant says  •Police update Carpenter-case sketch  •Teen slaying case stays open  •Reward for killer is offered  •Aiken investigators turn to FBI  •Police show sketch of teen wanted for questioning  •Parents take pride in teen's legacy  •Man on camera sought  •Police create profile of teen-ager's killer  •Teen's death hits close to home  •Community says goodbye to teen  •Police seek motive for teen killing  •Friends mourn 17-year-old's death

``Just the fact that the DNA sample didn't match doesn't mean he's cleared in the Carpenter case,'' Assistant Solicitor Bill Weeks said Friday. ``We really feel Mr. Baldwin is involved.''

Investigators are awaiting results from two other forensics tests involving the Carpenter crime scene and Mr. Baldwin. Authorities would not say what kind of tests, but forensic testing can include fingerprint analysis or a fiber comparison, Mr. Weeks said. The results should come next week, he said.

Craig Gantt, an inmate in prison on a parole violation, stepped forward last week and told Aiken police Mr. Baldwin confessed to killing Ms. Carpenter on Aug. 4. Judge James R. Barber III agreed Tuesday to allow investigators to take blood, hair and saliva from Mr. Baldwin for a DNA sample and to make the comparisons.

But Aiken police released a statement Friday afternoon saying the DNA did not match.

Still, the assistant solicitor continued to call Mr. Gantt a reliable witness, confirming late Friday that the informant provided details of the killing not known to the general public.

Mr. Gantt told police he picked up Mr. Baldwin on Aug. 4 from the Starvin' Marvin convenience store on York Street, just around the corner from the victim's home on Brentwood Place. The pair rode around that night, smoking marijuana and talking, Mr. Gantt said. That is when Mr. Gantt claims Mr. Baldwin confessed, saying he raped a girl and ended up killing her because she could identify him, police said.

The victim's body was discovered by her mother, and an autopsy showed she had been strangled.

Mr. Baldwin has been in jail since Oct. 29, charged in a rash of crimes during the past six months, including armed robbery, sexual assault and burglary.

On Thursday night, police charged him with unrelated crimes from last year, including a carjacking, armed robbery, arson and possession of a firearm. During a bond hearing Friday night, Magistrate Judge Charles ``Terry'' Carter denied bond on those charges, giving Mr. Baldwin no chance of leaving the detention center.

The charges stem from a Sept. 20 incidentat the Depot store on Hampton Avenue, where a man confronted another man while he was buying a newspaper. The man had a gun and took the victim's money and car. The vehicle was located a short time later on Pickens Street, where it was engulfed in fire. Police say the victim of the carjacking saw Mr. Baldwin's picture on the news this week and recognized him.

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 648-1395.

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