1-Apr-2024

TrueAllele connects victim to basement concrete in cold case homicide conviction

In 2002, a man’s burned remains were found in a metal locker near a Michigan blueberry field. Ten years later, police identified the remains as Roberto Caraballo. Other evidence suggested he was murdered in his basement. Detectives suspected the victim’s wife, Beverly McCallum, and two others.

The Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory found possible blood under new concrete poured in the basement. They swabbed the concrete. DNA testing generated new evidence data. The crime laboratory couldn’t draw conclusions from the concrete DNA evidence, due to the complexity of the mixture data.

On the same data, Cybergenetics’ TrueAllele computer found the victim’s DNA in the concrete. He was statistically present in the concrete bloodstain with a match number of 23.9 trillion.

On March 27, 2024, Cybergenetics Casework Supervisor William Allan testified about the TrueAllele results before an Eaton County jury. After deliberating for two hours, the jury found McCallum guilty of second-degree murder and disinterment and mutilation of a body.