1997 SLAYING Deer DNA from crime site is used in murder charge

The hunter was shot three times and his body was dumped in a creek.
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Using deer DNA obtained from the crime scene, authorities charged a man with deliberately shooting and killing a hunter nearly seven years ago and taking a deer the hunter had shot, police said.
New DNA technology allowed investigators to compare venison taken from Lawrence Joseph Cseripko's freezer shortly after the murder with evidence taken from near where the body of Paul Joseph Horvat Jr. was found, according to state police.
Cseripko, 58, of Uniontown, shot Horvat three times and dumped his body in a creek Dec. 16, 1997, police said.
"They're claiming that I shot him and took his deer," a perplexed-looking Cseripko told his wife, Mary, at his arraignment Thursday, the Uniontown Herald-Standard reported. Cseripko said the allegations were wrong.
Cseripko was being held without bail in the Fayette County Prison on homicide. A message left at his home wasn't immediately returned Thursday.
Horvat's body was found the next day after he failed to return from hunting. He had been living in Alaska, but was from the Uniontown area.
A month after the killing, Dewey Lawrence Stewart told police that he had been walking in the area where the body was found and that he'd seen Horvat getting out of a tree stand, authorities said. Stewart said he saw Cseripko sitting in a truck nearby.
Stewart also told police that Cseripko and Horvat had fought over deer in 1996 and that Cseripko told Stewart that if he had the opportunity, he'd kill Horvat, according to a police affidavit.
A number for Stewart couldn't be located.
Searched his house
Police searched Cseripko's house in March 1998 and took venison from his freezer, which they compared with deer entrails found near Horvat's body and deer blood on Horvat's hunting pants.
The DNA matched, police said. Fayette County District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon and trooper Daniel J. Venick of the state police Cold Case Squad said they believe it's the first homicide case involving deer DNA.