DNA Allegedly Ties Florida Inmate to ’80 O.C. Rape-Murder
Genetic evidence from a 1980 Seal Beach rape and murder scene has linked a Florida inmate to the crime, the California attorney general’s office said Thursday.
Benjamin Wayne Watta, 55, was identified when authorities ran the DNA evidence through the California DNA Convicted Felon Databank.
He will be extradited and charged with first-degree murder, a Seal Beach police spokesman said.
The genetic code of Watta, who is serving a 10-year sentence for attempted murder, was in the databank, and a computer matched the two samples, officials said.
Simone Sharpe, 70, was found dead in a Seal Beach home on Christmas Eve 20 years ago by her son. Sharpe was house-sitting at the time.
Thirty-five suspects have been identified by the state databank since it was established in 1994. Of those so-called “cold hits,” 13 have come this year.
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