DETROIT – The two people charged in the murder of an 80-year-old Royal Oak woman went before a judge on Friday.
Hours of testimony were given from officers and forensic experts, but it all boiled down to DNA evidence linking the defendants to the victim.
The 80-year-old woman was found tied up with her throat slashed in her Royal Oak home in November. Tonia Watson and Alan Wood had worked at Dailey's home doing yard work in the weeks before she was killed.
A police detective and state police lab technician testified DNA taken from the scene positively links the two defendants to Dailey.
Most of the testimony from a state police forensic scientist centered around a bloody washcloth found near Dailey's house, a blue scarf used to bind Dailey's arms behind her back and Wood's clothing and Dailey's fingernail clippings. Wood's DNA was found on the blue scarf.
"We simply report out that the DNA types obtained are a mixture of Dailey's DNA types and additional DNA types," said forensic scientist Amy Altesleben.
Royal Oak Police detective Carl Baretto testified blood linked to the victim was found on Wood's clothes, but it appeared they had been tampered with. In addition, police were not able to find the blue jacket he was seen wearing at McDonald's just before Dailey's death.
"Mr. Wood's pants which had bleach stains on them were pretty identifiable and the same pants that we observed the day of the homicide that he was wearing at the time of his arrest," said Royal Oak police detective Carl Barretto.
Wood is charged with first degree pre-meditated murder and felony murder.
Tonia Watson is charged with felony murder.
The hearing will resume on March 23.