Winston Corbett was arrested on October 28, 2018 and charged with the murder of James Miller and the attempted murder of Linda Miller in Goshen, Indiana. These offences took place during a break-in at their home on October 9, 2011. There was a violent confrontation between James and the intruder that ranged throughout the house, and outside to the mailbox, where he died. James had been stabbed about 50 times, and Linda about 23 times. Corbett was a 16-year-old high school student at the time of the murder.
Blood was found at the crime scene, on James’ shirt, on a door handle, on a baseboard, and in the street where James’ body was found. This was used to develop two male DNA profiles, one of which was linked to Corbett. An unknown male profile was also developed that has not yet been identified.
The FGG investigation was conducted by Parabon Nanolabs. Investigators collected some items from the garbage outside Corbett’s home, which they sampled surreptitiously to provide an initial confirmation of the FGG match.
Only the sample from the baseboard resulted in a full profile. The other profiles were mixtures, whose interpretation was disputed at trial. Corbett was convicted after an 8-day jury trial.
He was sentenced to 115 years for both crimes. An appeal court upheld his conviction and sentence in November of 2021. The FGG evidence was not challenged directly, but the appeal court found that seizure of his trash for DNA testing was lawful under the Indiana Constitution as police had a reasonable suspicion.
Sources:
Ambrose, Aimee. “DNA Disputed as Expert Findings Clash During Murder Trial.” Goshen News, November 10, 2020. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://www.goshennews.com/news/dna-disputed-as-expert-findings-clash-during-murder-trial/article_33a84df0-23cb-11eb-9107-671b4c80fd93.html.
Ambrose, Aimee. “Process to ID and Arrest Suspect in Professor’s Murder Took About Two Weeks.” Goshen News, November 6, 2020. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://www.goshennews.com/news/process-to-id-and-arrest-suspect-in-professors-murder-took-about-two-weeks/article_18b9d8e6-2098-11eb-9286-ef05038c1a4e.html.
Ambrose, Aimee. “Suspect Convicted in 2011 Murder of Goshen College Professor.” Goshen News, November 12, 2020. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://www.goshennews.com/news/suspect-convicted-in-2011-murder-of-goshen-college-professor/article_8ffab7f2-255e-11eb-94f5-e36246000048.html?fbclid=IwAR0rUFX8RM98UVWNZ7dzkz7hsCMwFu5Fn88FvsPSUXTZYRrD3NFl8xJDHWg.
Husdon, Melissa. “Appeals Court Upholds Conviction, Sentence in Murder of Goshen Professor James Miller.” ABC News 57, November 10, 2021. Accessed December 23, 2021. https://www.abc57.com/news/appeals-court-upholds-conviction-sentence-in-murder-of-goshen-professor-james-miller.
Hudson, Melissa. “Winston Corbett Convicted in Murder of Professor James Miller.” ABC 57 News, November 12, 2020. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://www.abc57.com/news/winston-corbett-trial-verdict-on-murder-attempted-murder-charges?fbclid=IwAR1NxuHFy33SDbtVz557dknyTD3xCd-mhFKWrkjLnjWJNL-A9bQ131mLDNY.