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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- March 7, 2019
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Suspects
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During a murder trial March 6, a DNA expert said she didn’t find the defendant’s fingerprints in the victim’s apartment. However, several other witnesses’ testimonies supported the prosecution’s theory that the defendant robbed the victim.
El Hadji Toure is charged with first-degree murder while armed, first-degree sexual abuse and robbery while armed, among other offenses, for his alleged role in the death of 34-year-old Corrina Mehiel in an apartment on the 600 block of 14th Street, NE in 2017.
According to the expert, she matched fingerprints found in the apartment to Mehiel and the apartment’s owner. The expert said she also found fingerprints in the tub and sink, but they were “inconclusive.”
During the hearing, a Motel 6 manager told the jury that Toure checked into the Laurel, Md. motel on March 21, the day the murder took place, and checked out on March 23.
The manager also said the motel was within walking distance of a Gulf Gas station where a suspect was caught on camera withdrawing money from an ATM machine. The president of the company that oversees the ATM testified that the transaction aligns with records detailing withdrawals from Mehiel’s accounts.
According to the prosecution’s theory, Toure is responsible for binding, sexually assaulting and repeatedly stabbing Mehiel to death. The prosecution says he tortured her, stole her credit cards and withdrew money from her account at multiple ATM machines in Maryland and Virginia.
The trial is scheduled to resume on March 7.