DNA Links Murder Suspect to Earlier Rape

The Arkansas man arrested for the murder of a popular television anchorwoman in Little Rock has been linked through DNA evidence in that case to the rape of a school teacher in April. Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, is being held without bond for the murder of Anne Pressly.

Investigators now believe Vance raped an eastern Arkansas school teacher while she was taking a shower in her home.

Vance had become a suspect in the Pressly case because he had been seen loitering in the yards of Pressly's neighbors, even though he lived 90 miles away in Marianna. During an interview with investigators last week, Vance volunteered a sample of his DNA.

The DNA linked Vance to both the murder and the rape, police said.

"They asked if we had a suspect who could have done it and I told them we had a guy running around, getting in some burglaries, going in people's yards early in the morning, hanging around the house, hanging around the neighborhood," Marianna police Sgt. Carl McCree said. "That was Curtis Vance."

Facing the Death Penalty?

On October 20, Anne Pressly was found badly beaten in the bedroom of her home in the Pulaski Heights section of Little Rock. She died five days later of her injuries without regaining consciousness.

On April 21, a school teacher in eastern Arkansas told police that someone broke into her home and attacked her shortly after she woke up in the morning and took a shower. The man said he had a gun and robbed her of $3, the only money that she had.

Police have charged Vance with rape and residential burglary charges in connection with the April incident. He faces capital murder charges in the Pressly case and could possibly face the death penalty if convicted.

See Also:
DNA Ties Suspect in Ark. Anchor Slaying to Rape

Earlier Articles:
Man Charged in Anchorwoman's Beating Death
Reward Offered for Clues in Anchorwoman's Murder

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