DNA links man to slaying in 1985
A 48-year-old man has been charged with the 1985 stabbing death of a small-time drug dealer after being linked by DNA to physical evidence found at the time, officials said Wednesday.
Michael John Illiano could face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the Dec. 28, 1985, killing of Gene Carson, 49.
Illiano, being held on $1-million bail, is accused of going to Carson’s Santa Ana apartment with a friend and stabbing him multiple times. Police interviewed him in 1986, but the case remained unsolved until recently when Santa Ana police detectives used DNA technology unavailable in 1985 to link him to physical evidence recovered from the scene.
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-- David Haldane
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