DNA on Coffee Cup Helps Pa. Police Nab 1975 Murder Suspect

By Kaitlyn Alanis

Source The Charlotte Observer

About 46 years ago, authorities say 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler got home from the grocery store and was stabbed several times.

Pennsylvania officials ruled her death a homicide but never could identify a killer.

The case went cold.

That was until DNA helped identify a potential suspect — and the man’s discarded coffee cup confirmed a match, according to a July 18 news release from the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office and Manor Township Police Department.

David Sinopoli, 68, of Lancaster, was charged with homicide in the 1975 killing, authorities said. He was arrested July 17 without incident and is being held without bail.

“Lindy Sue Beichler was 19 when her life was brutally taken away from her 46 years ago in the sanctity of her own home,” Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said in a statement. “This arrest marks the beginning of the criminal process in Lancaster County’s oldest cold case homicide and we hope that it brings some sense of relief to the victim’s loved ones and to community members who for the last 46 years had no answers.”

The 1975 homicide

Biechler, of Manor Township, returned to her apartment at about 7 p.m. Dec. 5, 1975, with bags of groceries, officials said.

Her aunt and uncle found her inside and called police at 8:46 p.m., according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.

The 19-year-old woman was found on her back with a knife in her neck, and a tea towel was wrapped around the handle. The knife matched a set in her kitchen.

Patches of blood were found outside the front door, on the wall and in the carpet, officials said, and investigators noticed there had been a struggle. The victim’s John Herr’s Village Market grocery bags were on her dining room table.

She had 19 stab wounds to her neck, chest, abdomen and back, and her cause of death was ruled “massive bleeding due to multiple stab wounds.”

The investigation

Manor Township police say they followed several leads for years and cleared dozens of suspects.

In 1997, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office says it submitted evidence from the crime scene for a DNA analysis.

“As a result, a male DNA profile was obtained from the right-side area of Biechler’s underwear and was determined to contain semen,” authorities said.

The profile was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System in 2000, authorities say, but there was never a match.

The Lancaster County District Attorney’s newly formed Cold Case Unit took over the case in January 2019, according to the news release.

Later that year, the team requested help from Parabon NanoLabs, which analyzed the DNA profile.

Its work led to composite profiles that revealed a potential suspect’s skin tone, eye color and hair color, officials said in a September 2019 news release.

The lab continued with genetic genealogy analysis, and its research identified Sinopoli as a person of interest through his Italian ancestry, authorities said.

The coffee cup

Sinopoli threw his used coffee cup away before traveling at the Philadelphia International Airport on Feb. 11, 2022, according to the news release.

“Investigators surreptitiously obtained DNA” from that cup then sent it to DNA Labs International for testing, officials said.

Authorities say DNA found on the coffee cup matched the semen found in Biechler’s underwear. An analysis found this DNA had a one in a 10 trillion chance of matching.

Following the match, a blood splatter expert evaluated Biechler’s clothing to see if any of the blood could have came from a suspect.

Two blood spots on her pantyhose were sent to DNA Labs, officials said, and the drops’ DNA matched the DNA on her underwear.

“There has been a never-ending pursuit of justice in this case that has led us to identifying and arresting Sinopoli,” Adams said. “Lindy Sue Biechler was on the minds of many throughout the years. Certainly, law enforcement never forgot about Lindy Sue, and this arrest marks the first step to obtaining justice for her and holding her killer responsible.”

If you have additional information on the case or were familiar with Sinopoli in December 1975, authorities ask you to call Lancaster County Detective Christopher Erb at 717-299-8100 or submit a tip online.

Manor Township is about 90 miles west of Philadelphia.

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