WSPD Chief: Items tested in Silk Plant Forest case yield ‘no new evidence’

Physical evidence gathered from the crime scene of the 1995 Silk Plant Forest-Jill Marker assault case — which only recently was discovered to have never been tested — revealed “no new evidence,” said Winston-Salem Police Chief Scott Cunningham during a press conference Monday.

The evidence — a piece of cardboard with stains and fibers and Marker’s clothes — were listed in court-related documents, but inexplicably, neither the Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office nor the defense team of Kalvin Michael Smith — the man convicted of brutally assaulting Marker — requested the items be tested, Cunningham said.

On March 4, the Winston-Salem Police Department sent the items to the State Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Raleigh. Cunningham said fibers found on the piece of cardboard were not actually hair fibers but “materials consistent with the store environment.”

No fingerprints were lifted from the cardboard and the stain was consistent with Jill Marker’s DNA. Cunningham said the SBI lab found different sets of hairs on Marker’s clothing. Some of the hairs discovered matched Marker’s DNA profile but other hairs discovered didn’t match Marker.

“Some of the hairs did reveal enough DNA for us to do some comparisons,” Cunningham said. “These comparisons indicated that the hairs did not match Jill Marker, Kalvin Michael Smith or any other person that’s been involved in this investigation.”

Cunningham said the police department had obtained DNA profiles from all of the previous suspects, and did not find a DNA match. Cunningham declined to release the names of the suspects.

None of the hairs were consistent with that of a black person, Cunningham said. Kalvin Michael Smith is African-American. Cunningham said it was important to note that the test results didn’t rule out anyone, including Smith.

“It does not definitively place anyone but Jill [Marker] at the scene, nor does it definitively exclude anyone from the scene.”

The internal police department committee — composed of Cunningham, Capt. David Clayton, public safety attorney, Lori Sykes, Lt. David Keiger and Capt. Alonzo Thompson — hopes to complete its review of the Silk Plant Forest case in the next few months, Cunningham said. At that time, the committee expects to have a definitive answer as to whether the case should be reopened or remain closed, Cunningham said.

At the conclusion of the internal review, the committee will submit its report to City Manager Lee Garrity and the Winston-Salem City Council. Cunningham expressed hope that the report would be eventually be made public.