DNA Leads To Arrest In Old Santa Monica Murders
SANTA MONICA (AP) — Santa Monica police said new DNA tests led to the arrest of a 46-year-old man in the deaths of two women killed a decade ago.
Sgt. Richard Lewis said Edric Dashell Gross was taken into custody Wednesday as he sat in a Santa Monica park.
Gross is expected to be arraigned Friday on two counts of murder for the 2001 killing of Jacqueline Ovsak and the 2002 killing of Dana Caper.
Both cases went cold after about five years, but were reopened in 2007 after detectives had new ways to process DNA evidence. Gross was identified and linked to both killings.
The 42-year-old Ovsak was found dead April 5, 2001 in an abandoned building.
Caper's body was found on bluffs overlooking Palisades Park on October 29, 2002. She was 46.
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