Expert: DNA in line with girl’s account in murder case

DNA evidence taken from a 16-year-old Aurora girl in 2004 corroborated details the teen gave police of being sexually assaulted by her stepfather about three weeks before he is alleged to have killed her, a forensic expert testified Thursday.

Doug Saul of the DuPage County Crime Lab said DNA swabbed from Erin “EJ” Justice was consistent with that of 44-year-old Laurence Lovejoy, who is charged with her murder. Asked whether the evidence supported the Waubonsie Valley High School student’s claim that Lovejoy licked her during a March 3, 2004, sexual assault, Saul answered, “That is an explanation.”

Prosecutors say Justice ran to a neighbor’s and called 911 after Lovejoy forced himself upon her in their Naperville home while her mother was away. Less than a month later, after the family moved to Aurora, the teen was found drugged, beaten, stabbed and drowned in a bathtub inside their townhouse.

A jury convicted Lovejoy of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death in 2007. But the Illinois Supreme Court later overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial.

Among evidence expected at his retrial, which opened Tuesday, is a partial bare footprint that was discovered in Justice’s blood at the crime scene. Before Justice was killed, Lovejoy had agreed to have no contact with her while results from the DNA tests were pending.