OVID, SENECA COUNTY --
Phyllis O'Connell says it's hard to describe how frustrating the past 25 years have been. In 1985, her daughter Kristin came to the Finger Lakes town of Ovid from Minnesota to visit a friend. One night she went out for a walk and never returned. Two days later her body was found but her killer remains unknown.
Now Phyllis O'Connell says that she's learned that answers to questions about how her daughter died may have suffered another setback. O'Connell says that staff from the office of the New York Inspector General recently told her that a forensic scientist who was the center of an evidence falsification case may have worked on the original evidence.
The State Inspector General's report said Garry Veeder falsified data in dozens of cases and falsified records to conceal his fraudulent work. Phyllis O'Connell hopes he didn't compromise any evidence from the original investigation.
"In 1985 he did the initial evidence," said O'Connell. "I don't know how many items but anything to do with cloth because that's what he handled."
Questions about Veeder's work started when an assessor found he was unable to "perform basic tasks in fiber analysis including proper operation of a microscope." As investigators were closing in on him in 2008, Veeder's body was found hanging in his garage.
"I mean my god - this is an important job they're doing there and how could they allow this and not be supervised properly? It's just beyond me," said O'Connell.
O'Connell says the Inspector General's report is just another reason why she wants the New York State Department of Health to grant an exception for a world renowned DNA lab in the Netherlands to test evidence from her daughters case - an exemption the health department has so far refused.
"I'm telling you, I don't have faith at all in that system up there and I think it's a crying shame that they can get away with all of this and prevent my finding out who killed my daughter," said O'Connell.
State Police Investigators, the Seneca County District Attorney, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar all support giving Richard and Selma Eikelenboom an exemption to do state of the art "Touch DNA" testing at their Netherlands lab, but New York's Department of Health says the lab will have to apply to be licensed in New York State. The Eikelenboom's lab is world renowned and is credited with developing the "Touch DNA" process.
