QUEENS — A Pennsylvania man was charged with the 2008 stabbing death of a Cambria Heights girl after a national DNA database linked him to the crime, the Queens DA said Monday.
Rashon Venable, 24, is facing up to 25 years in prison and was expected to arraigned on second-degree murder charges in Queens Criminal Court Monday after being extradited from Pennsylvania.
“DNA is an important law enforcement tool that protects the innocent and punishes the guilty,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
“In this case, the defendant is accused of a brutal act of violence in which he spent many years eluding identification and remaining free only to ultimately have his own DNA point the finger at him. My office is committed to working tirelessly to insure that justice is done — no matter how many years it may take.”
Venable slashed 14-year-old Sabrina Matthews inside her bedroom on Nov. 9 2008. Her father, Livingston Matthews, then found his daughter with a deep slash wound to her neck and laceration on her right arm, according to the DA.
Biological evidence was recovered from the scene and a DNA profile was entered into the CODIS database, which is maintained by the FBI.
Venable, who was 16 at the time and lived about two miles away from Matthews in Queens Village, later moved to Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
