There is a new push for DNA testing in the 35-year-old cold case of Barbara Jean, a 4-year-old girl killed and left in a cardboard box in Northeast Philadelphia in 1988. NBC10 Investigative reporter Claudia Vargas has the latest on the case where lawyers for the formerly convicted killer, who served 28 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2020, are asking the city to investigate DNA.
What to Know
- The lawyers representing a man who was wrongfully convicted of killing 4-year-old Barbara Jean Horn in 1988 are asking the city of Philadelphia to test an existing DNA sample.
- In a letter to the judge overseeing Walter Ogrod’s civil lawsuit against the city for wrongful prosecution, Ogrod’s lawyer says that they hired a forensic scientist to review the DNA evidence in the case. During that review, the letter says, the scientist found a DNA sample from the plastic bag that was covering the girl’s body when she was found.
- Barbara Jean was killed just a few hours after going missing from her front lawn in broad daylight. She was found two blocks from her home in the city’s Castor Garden section. Her body was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed inside a cardboard TV box.
The lawyers representing a man who was wrongfully convicted of killing 4-year-old Barbara Jean Horn in 1988 are asking the city of Philadelphia to test an existing DNA sample.
In a letter to the judge overseeing Walter Ogrod’s civil lawsuit against the city for wrongful prosecution, Ogrod’s lawyer says that they hired a forensic scientist to review the DNA evidence in the case. During that review, the letter says, the scientist found a DNA sample from the plastic bag that was covering the girl’s body when she was found.
“There has never been any analysis of this ‘touch DNA’ from the plastic bag, but the partial sample has been confirmed to be that of a male who is not Walter Ogrod,” the letter said.
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Barbara Jean was killed just a few hours after going missing from her front lawn in broad daylight. She was found two blocks from her home in the city’s Castor Garden section. Her body was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed inside a cardboard TV box.
Walter Ogrod was convicted of the murder in 1996 following two trials. At the time of the murder, he lived across the street from where Barbara Jean Horn and her family lived.
Ogrod was exonerated and released from prison in 2020 following an investigation by the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit.
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Since then, he has sued the city in an attempt to get compensated for the 28 years he served behind bars.
It was part of that lawsuit that Ogrod’s lawyers sought to look at the DNA in the case.
“There should be additional testing on any DNA that exists,” said Ogrod’s lawyer, Joseph Marrone, outside of court Tuesday. “Technology has come a long way in DNA investigations.”
Marrone said that no decision was made during Tuesdays’ court hearing.
The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
