EVERETT — The man charged with stabbing Patti Berry to death more than 19 years ago told detectives he has no idea how his DNA wound up inside the woman’s blood-soaked car.
Danny Ross Giles also denied any involvement in the July 1995 killing.
“No. Absolutely not,” Giles repeatedly said when accused by detectives.
A jury Friday listened to a recording from the May 17, 2011 interview when Snohomish County sheriff’s cold-case detective Jim Scharf confronted Giles with results from genetic tests.
Giles’ denials were clear. Some of his explanations, however, were hard to follow.
Giles at one point said that “it’s possible” he might have had sex with Berry, although he doesn’t remember ever meeting the 26-year-old Arlington woman.
He also denied ever being in Berry’s car, but if his DNA was found there or at some other key location in the case, that means nothing, he said.
“People touch stuff all the time,” Giles said.
The recording was played as testimony in Giles’ first-degree murder trial concluded a second week. Lawyers on both sides said they expect to finish their cases sometime next week.
Prosecutors allege that Giles killed Berry while she was headed for home after working a shift dancing at a strip club. Her body was dumped in the woods near the Everett Mall. Her 1985 Honda, its seats drenched in blood, was found parked near a car wash at 128th Street SE.
Giles was not a suspect in 1995. Jurors already heard testimony from forensic scientists who described how in 2004, sensitive DNA tests that weren’t available when Berry was killed led to the discovery of a man’s genetic material on the steering wheel of her car.
Four years later, that genetic profile reportedly was linked to Giles. Scientists calculated the probability of a random match at 1 in 580 million.
Scharf, who has been investigating homicides for nearly 20 years, told jurors that once the genetic evidence pointed toward Giles, “I think it became priority 1” among the dozens of unsolved cases at the sheriff’s office.
When he approached Giles in May 2011, the detective already knew that Giles had grown up and spent much of his life in the south Everett neighborhoods where evidence of Berry’s killing was found.
Scharf told Giles that former dancers at Honey’s described him as a frequent patron who likely would have insights into Berry’s killing.
Giles wasn’t buying it. He said he’d only been to the club a few times.
“Either they were bull(expletive) you or you are bull(expletive) me,” Giles told the detective.
Scharf and another detective showed Giles a pack of cold-case playing cards, each card in the deck featuring an unsolved killing or missing person from Snohomish County.
Giles asked if the detectives had brought an extra deck. He commented on how young many of the dead were, and how many families were touched.
“A lot of people, just waiting,” he said.
Scharf asked Giles about the taverns he frequented, the jobs he’d held, the girlfriends he’d dated, what he was like in high school, his hobbies, whether he’d ever carried a knife, whether he’d ever paid for sex.
The detective encouraged Giles to offer theories about the type of person who killed Berry. Giles opined she must have had enemies. He said it sounded as if she was killed by somebody who was angry at her and that it would be “very unusual” for her to fall victim to a stranger.
What about somebody who preys on other people? Any ideas?
“I really don’t know. I’m kind of a blank,” Giles told Scharf.
The detective asked Giles about Berry’s case. Had he ever handled her bloody clothing? Had he ever been in her car?
Giles said he didn’t recall ever being in the car.
“Well, that’s kind of odd, Dan. Your DNA was found at the crime scene,” Scharf said.
Giles repeatedly said he had nothing to do with Berry’s killing. He added that the presence of his DNA proved nothing.
The recording abruptly ended as Giles also told Scharf there was nothing sinister about his inability to remember details from 1995.
Lawyers spent most of Thursday trimming down the interview recording. Jurors haven’t been told that Giles also is charged with the 1995 killing of Tracey Brazzel, who disappeared a few months before Berry was killed. Detectives confronted Giles about his DNA and their suspicions in that case, too.
Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss earlier ruled there must be separate trials on the Berry and Brazzel charges. A frequent felon, Giles first went to prison for rape as a teenager. His most-recent conviction was for felony indecent exposure.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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