Cold Case Homicide Cracked With DNA Evidence: Camden Co. Prosecutor

CAMDEN, NJ — A man was charged with murder after DNA evidence linked him to a 2011 stabbing in an abandoned Camden house, authorities said.

Kenyar Hill, 46, of Camden, was arrested in the city on June 27. He will remain jailed, pending trial.

The murder charge stemmed from a fatal stabbing at an abandoned house on the 500 block of Mechanic Street in Camden, authorities said. Police responded to the incident just before 10 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2011, and found the victim lying in the front room with multiple stab wounds.

The victim — Brian Holden, 42, of Camden — was brought to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

During the investigation, detectives interviewed Holden's girlfriend. She told them that earlier that evening, she met with the suspect and agreed to have sex with him for money, authorities said.

After the encounter, the woman argued with the suspect and he took his money back. She then yelled for Holden, who confronted the suspect, authorities said.

The suspect stabbed Holden multiple times during the altercation, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

The victim's girlfriend was driven to a hospital, where potential DNA evidence was collected during a sexual assault forensic examination. The evidence was sent to a State Police lab, but there wasn't a match in their system.

In April 2021, Hill was arrested in a separate incident. He was charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement, including on that led to injury. He was also charged with resisting arrest and refusing to submit fingerprints, according to court documents Patch obtained.

He later pleaded guilty to fourth-degree obstruction of law, while prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges.

As part of the agreement, Hill was sentenced to $155 in fines in September 2022. But there was one stipulation: he had to provide a DNA sample, according to the sentencing document.

It wasn't immediately clear whether that plea bargain led to detectives cracking the homicide case. But that year, the laboratory identified Hill as a "high-stringency match" for the DNA profile generated.

For further confirmation, detectives collected a buccal swab from Hill in 2023. The sample was submitted for testing in conjunction with the swabs from the sexual assault examination.

The lab later confirmed a match, leading detectives to follow up on the investigation and speak with witnesses from more than a decade ago. Ultimately, Hill was charged June 26 with first-degree murder.

A fugitive task force of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Hill in Camden the next day. He was placed in the Camden County Correctional Facility.

On July 2, a judge ruled that Hill will remain jailed pre-trial. He's slated to return to court Sept. 3 for a pre-indictment conference.

Hill didn't have an attorney listed in online court records on Thursday.