Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 16, 1995 TAG: 9510160072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
Kenneth N. Pallett, 22, had been charged with murder for the Aug. 8 slaying of Amber Marie Zajac.
DNA tests showed semen taken from the victim did not match Pallett's.
``DNA evidence cuts both ways,'' said prosecutor Shep Wainger. ``It convicts some people. It frees others. As long as we were holding him, we believed he was the killer; but after receiving DNA evidence and analyzing his statement to police, we let him go.''
Wainger said there was not enough evidence to pursue lesser charges, which required proving Pallett had helped kill and rape the girl.
Prosecutors could reinstate the original charges against Pallett if they choose.
Police would not say if they had another suspect, only that no one else was in custody. But an Aug. 25 search warrant affidavit showed that, while Pallett was in jail, police also were focusing on a 17-year-old boy.
Police spokesman Lou Thurston would say only that investigators were awaiting further test results.
Pallett told police he served as a lookout while someone else raped Zajac. Pallett said the rapist offered him sex with the girl, but Pallett declined, records show.
The lookout story was one of at least nine conflicting accounts Pallett told police, records show.
Police in August used a search warrant to take blood and hair samples from the second suspect. The teen had admitted to a detective that he was with Zajac shortly before her death. Her body was found in a patch of woods near her home.
by CNB