Posted on 11/15/2006 4:59:33 AM PST by radar101
DNA evidence ties the man suspected of starting the fatal Esperanza Fire to two other recent fires, according to an arson investigator's affidavit filed in Riverside Superior Court.
The devices used to start the two prior blazes - six or seven matches bound by a rubber band to a cigarette fuse - are also "similar" to the one found at the ignition site of the Esperanza Fire, California Department of Forestry investigator Matthew Gilbert stated in court documents.
The earlier fires started June 9 and 10 on the Morongo Indian Reservation, according to Gilbert. In both cases, Gilbert wrote, he discovered incendiary devices at the sites where the fires began and ruled out the possibility that the blazes had a natural or accidental origin.
After being processed at a Riverside laboratory of the Department of Justice, the affidavit stated, the devices produced matching DNA samples.
Those, in turn, matched a DNA swab that suspect Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, provided to the Riverside County Sheriff's Homicide Unit before his arrest, Gilbert wrote.
Oyler has pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges stemming from the Esperanza Fire, as well as arson charges in an additional 10 cases. His lawyer could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
But as of the affidavit's filing on Oct. 31, no DNA results had yet been obtained from evidence recovered from the Esperanza Fire, the document says.
Ingrid Wyatt, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, would not address questions about the contents of Gilbert's affidavit or the results of the DNA testing on the device found at the Esperanza Fire.
"That's not our document," she said. "We're not releasing any other information."
But while she declined to speak of the role that DNA evidence might play in the case, she said her agency had plenty of proof of Oyler's guilt.
"More than 30 people from different agencies met and reviewed this case and came to the same conclusion - that we have the correct person behind bars," she said. "There's no question in our mind that this is the man who committed the crime."
Jeff Horwitz can be reached at (909)386-3856 or via e-mail at jeff.horwitz@sbsun.com.
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