Although DNA found on the body of Eileen Adams was linked to Robert Bowman, an analyst acknowledged yesterday that the 1967 sample was degraded and so not as strong as a full DNA profile.

Julie Cox, a DNA analyst for the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation testified Wednesday during the eighth day of Bowman’s murder trial. Bowman, 75, is charged with murder in the first degree for the 1967 slaying of the 14-year-old Sylvania Township girl.

Ms. Cox testified that she tested semen stains found on the skirt worn by Miss Adams when her body was found but that the samples were so degraded that she was unable to get a genetic profile. She further testified about a paternity test she conducted involving Bowman.

In response to extensive questions posed by the defense, Ms. Cox acknowledged that the only test conducted at the laboratory that connected Bowman to the evidence was a 2006 test involving a semen stain on the victim’s thermal underwear. In that test, the statistically possibility that the DNA found in the semen was someone other than Bowman was 1 in 4,153,000.

But although a large number, attorney Pete Rost questioned whether much larger statistics have been generated in cases where there is a stronger match. Ms. Cox acknowledged that because the DNA was degraded, only 10 of the 16 possible locations could be tested, which in turn lowered the statistical number.

When questioned on whether mistakes had ever been made at the Bowling Green laboratory, Ms. Cox acknowledged the possibility for human error but said policies were in place to catch mistakes.

Ms. Cox was the 15th witness to testify in the case and the only witness to take the stand Wednesday.

According to earlier testimony, Miss Adams was last seen Dec. 18, 1967, on a city bus after school as she traveled to her sister’s West Toledo home. She was found Jan. 30, 1968, in a frozen Monroe County field with her hands tied in front of her, her ankles tied with a cord connected to her neck, and a nail driven through the back of her skull.

The trial will continue Thursday with Judge Gene Zmuda presiding.

The prosecution has indicated that it will call the lead detective in the case to the stand Thursday, and that he may be the last prosecution witness, before the defense begins calling its own witnesses to the stand.

First Published August 18, 2011, 12:29 a.m.