Perth, Western Australia December 3, 2005 Home News Time Out Letters Classifieds Search Real Estate Trades & Services Submit About Contact Us Advertising (PDF) Legal	DNA points to unknown males Dr Laurance Webb leaves the Supreme Court with his files of DNA results. It was the next most expensive forensic investigation after the Claremont serial murders. Four traces of unknown men were found in the apartment of Susan Christie after she disappeared, a government forensic scientist told the Supreme Court this week. Traces of DNA were on the lounge carpet, along with the blood of Mrs Christie, a ring and watch owned by Mrs Christie and the handle and trigger of a Spray 'n' Wipe bottle found in the bathroom, Dr Laurance Webb told the Supreme Court. The DNA did not match any of the 103 swabs taken from people as part of the investigation, Dr Webb said. There was also no match with the 50,000 people on WA's database, or on those of jurisdictions with which WA has a sharing agreement - Queensland and the Northern Territory. Several hundred items in the flat were tested for DNA. Dr Webb appeared in court surrounded by eight thick folders documenting forensic testing. He said no DNA belonging to Rory Christie was identified in the flat. He said a cigarette butt found in Mrs Christie's vacuum cleaner showed the DNA of at least four people. Three more definite profiles were of Mrs Christie and the couple who lived in the flat above hers. A weaker profile appeared for Gregg Baird, a man the couple upstairs had contacted through a swingers' magazine the night Mrs Christie was last seen. Dr Webb said he "couldn't exclude Baird" from the site. He said a note that "there is weak evidence that Baird is in the mix" was written by a police officer, not him. Asked whether Mr Baird had contributed to the DNA, he said: "Not with a great deal of certainty, no." Elements of the DNA of Peter Finn, one of Susan Christie's lovers, was found on a piece of clothing, a black top found on the floor, and a fragment of glass. Mr Finn had a rare DNA, and the rare elements that matched his occurred in about one in a million people, Dr Webb said. A teabag and a strip of pink tissue paper found in Mrs Christie's kitchen bin yielded no DNA. A glass fragment found in Mrs Christie's phone book showed no DNA. Dr Webb said he detected no DNA in a Ford Festiva car used by Mr Christie around the time Mrs Christie disappeared. He said it might be possible to eliminate DNA by cleaning, but the cleaning agents needed were so strong that they were likely to damage the interior of a car. DNA recovered from 30-year-old stains was identical to DNA a month old. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.