New DNA Analysis of Bite Mark Could Exonerate Convicted Killer

New DNA testing suggests that the bite mark found on the body of the woman Gerard Richardson was convicted of killing in Bernards Township in 1994 might have come from another man, according to a report on NJ.com. 

Recent testing of a swab from the bite mark, found on the 19-year-old victim’s back, found the DNA profile of an unknown male, according to the article.

Richardson’s defense team hopes to use the new evidence to overturn the 1995 conviction that was based in part on analysis of the bite mark, which the prosecution argued matched the suspect’s teeth.

"This doesn’t change anything that that jury had in front of it," said Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Van Hise, who prosecuted the case at trial, of the DNA testing.

According to court documents, the victim allegedly owed Richardson money for drugs and he had threatened to kill her. 

Richardson, 47, has already served two decades of his 30-year sentence for the murder of Elizabeth resident Monica Reyes, whose body was found in a ditch along Old Stagecoach Road on Feb. 25, 1994. It was determined she died from blunt-force traumas to the head and DNA testing was not used during the original trial.