A firearms expert who examined the bullet taken from a murder victim could not match it to guns taken from the suspect. Debra Gillis, a forensic scientist at the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory said the bullet she examined was too mangled to make the connection.
"This bullet is extensively damaged,” she said.
Investigators performing the autopsy on Sophie Sergie found the one bullet. Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, Alaska, was found dead in the bathroom on one of the women’s floors of Bartlett Hall at University of Alaska at Fairbanks on April 26, 1993. A student living one floor above, Steven Downs, was identified as a suspect after his DNA, which was found in semen in the victim, was matched in 2018.
Investigators found she had died from a gunshot in the back of the head. She was also stabbed in the cheek and eye.
Gillis said the bullet was definitely .22 caliber.
“The terminal ballistic condition is that it is compressed longitudinally, so it’s compressed from nose to base, so it’s a nose-first impact.”
Investigators believe Sergie’s forehead was pushed against the side of the bathtub or tile wall of the stall when she was shot in the back of the head. The bullet went through her skull back to front and exited her skull at her forehead, but did not break the skin. Examiners at the autopsy found a “shoring” wound on her forehead.
Because the bullet was smashed, Gillis could not find the standard rifling marks firearms examiners look for to pair with the gun that shot it. She examined three .22 caliber guns found in 2019 at Steven Downs’ home in Auburn, Maine.
A Harrington & Richardson model 929 revolver, a Ruger model Mark II Semiautomatic pistol, and a Marlin 60SB semiautomatic rifle. Gillis’s test-fires and examinations eliminated two of the weapons but she told prosecutor Chris Darnall, she could not conclusively eliminate, nor connect the revolver to the crime.
“I cannot identify it nor eliminate it,” she said.
“Does that mean it's possible it fired that bullet?” Darnall asked.
“Yes.”
“Does it mean it’s possible that a similarly-manufactured weapon fired that bullet?” Darnall asked.
“Yes,” Gillis said.
KUAC received prior permission from the court to use recordings of the trial for this story.
Another expert testified about inconclusive testing of male DNA found on the victim’s breast. Jennifer Foster from the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory testified the sample taken in 1993, did not generate enough DNA to pass the lab’s minimum thresholds to identify someone.
“That profile was insufficient for comparison. The only thing that could be said was that there was male DNA observed, because a Y chromosome was observed in that profile and only males have that Y chromosome.” She said. “But no other conclusions.”
Foster said the profile could not prove, nor rule out another male touched the victim. The original swab from the victim was used up in lab procedures before DNA amplifying techniques improved.
The next witnesses expected include the Maine detectives who interviewed and arrested the defendant. Judge Thomas Temple ruled that audio recordings of those interviews could be played for the jury.
The courtroom is closed to the public to prevent COVID-19 sickness. But the court is video streaming the trial on the Alaska Court System website. Prior permission to record the proceeding for this story was granted.
