Bitten piece of Styrofoam cup, cigarette butt used to solve 2012 Pennsylvania cold case murder
Vallis Slaughter, 39, was arrested in the 2012 shooting death of Julio Torres.
READING, Pa. - Investigators used a bitten piece of a Styrofoam cup and a discarded cigarette to identify who they believe was the trigger man in a 2012 Pennsylvania cold case.
Vallis L. Slaughter, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2012 shooting death of 34-year-old Julio Torres outside the West Reading Diner.
Investigators believe Slaughter shot and killed Torres after he and Jomaine Case, who was 22-years-old at the time, were involved in an argument with the victim.
Case was arrested and charged after investigators matched his DNA to a bitten piece of a Styrofoam cup they found at the crime scene.
Two styrofoam cups found at the scene helped investigators arrest Jomaine Case shortly after the murder, and Slaughter over 10 years later.
Another analysis was done on a different bitten piece of Styrofoam cup, but investigators say the DNA didn't match database samples.
It was later learned that Slaughter was visiting Reading on the night of the murder from New York City. The case soon went cold after no new leads were developed.
Nearly 12 years later, investigators reexamined the cold case and discovered a cell phone picture of Slaughter taken by a friend on the night of the murder.
Authorities used facial recognition software to help them identify Vallis L. Slaughter, a Brooklyn native, as the person responsible for shooting Torres to death.
Investigators used one of Slaughter's freshly discarded cigarettes to match the DNA he allegedly left on a bitten piece of Styrofoam cup found at the crime scene.
Slaughter was living with his mother in Jersey City last December when investigators picked up his freshly discarded cigarette and matched it to the DNA on the bitten piece of Styrofoam cup collected from the crime scene in 2012.
Slaughter was arrested at his mother's house last Wednesday by members of the Jersey City Police Department. He is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility awaiting extradition back to Berks County.