[Cate]

I don't think the police department should be blamed for lack of DNA evidence. The police department may have made mistakes in this case, but if there isn't anything on the clothing is not their fault.

[aristeides]

Aren't you assuming that nothing would have been found on the clothing even if the body had been found in a timely fashion?

[SarahW]

The ineffective "photo-op" search is what they should be blamed for.

The search techniques used were not only ineffective but counter=productive, and also TOO LATE.

Failure to search the exact spot where she was found, even though a man had been arrested (and eventually convicted) for accosting women near what turned out to be her final resting place also deserves censure.

There were many failures that probably cost us irretrievable evidence, mainly related to slowness and inept and ineffective technique.

The police bear a large portion of the blame for the compromised crime scene.