Expert Witness Confirms Blood Stain in Victim’s Apartment was Hers

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On Sept. 28, one of the prosecution’s expert witnesses testified about DNA test results that confirmed a blood stain found in the victim’s apartment was hers.

Darnell Sterling, 57, was arrested and charged with the second-degree murder of Olga Ooro, his 34-year-old girlfriend. According to court documents, Sterling was the last person reported to have seen Ooro before her disappearance on July 17, 2020. Sterling is accused of wrapping the victim’s body in bed sheets and putting her in the backseat of his Volkswagen Passat.

A DNA Technician testified that results from the blood stain matched the victim’s DNA.

The technician said he took samples of Ooro’s parents DNA to compare it.

During the investigation, a concierge at Ooro’s apartment building on the 300 block of Massachusetts Avenue, NW, testified to overhearing Sterling’s conversation with an unidentified male on July 18, 2020.

“Mr. Sterling mentioned to him he was at the beach with his girl,” the concierge said.

The witness continued, saying Sterling came over to the front desk and told her, “I left that bitch at the hotel because she didn’t want to go to the beach with me”.

During cross examination, defense attorney Howard McEachern pointed out that the witness never told the grand jury in January 2021 about that statement.

A Forensic Scientist with the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) took photographs throughout the victim’s apartment including a photo of the victim’s mattress without sheets.

He testified that there didn’t appear to be any signs of struggle. The prosecution showed a photograph the witness took of the apartment. The prosecutor zoomed in on a dot that, at the time, DFS hadn’t noticed.

The next Forensic Scientist from DFS to testify had said she noticed a spot of suspected blood in the hallway about 6ft 3 inches high on the wall.

She said used Hemastix, a presumptive test that detects the presence of blood, to determine if the spot was blood spatter. The Hemastix turned green, indicating a positive sign for blood.

Referring to the small amount of blood, McEachern asked the witness “Is that amount of blood loss consistent with someone dying?” He also pointed out that there wasn’t any other blood found in the rest of the apartment.

DC Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan scheduled the trial to resume on Sept. 29.

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