Pennsylvania Man Charged with Cold-Blooded Murder After 46 Years Via DNA Evidence From a Coffee Cup

In yet another case of advanced DNA technology resulting in the unveiling of a murder mystery, David Sinopoli, 68, of Lancaster, was charged with murder of Lindy Sue Beichler, after 46 years. Sinopoli was arrested at his Lancaster home on Sunday and is being held without bail.

Beicheler was stabbed 19 times and the evidence at the scene pointed towards a sexual motive and the investigators believed that the killer knew her. Beicheler's body was first discovered by her aunt.

During the investigations, the detectives found blood on the front door and the entrance to the apartment. There was a knife sticking out of Beichler's neck and the knife's wooden handle was wrapped in a tea towel so as to remove the fingerprints.

A criminal homicide charge had been filed against David Sinopoli in the December 1975 but he could not be arrested due to lack of evidence.

Investigators Were Keeping a Close Eye on David Sinopoli

After 22 years, in 1997, a DNA profile was created from evidence collected from the crime scene and it was determined that Beichler's underwear contained semen.

The case got a new direction in 2019 after the prosecutors released composite images of a man and in 2020 further genetic analysis pointed towards Sinopoli who lived in Beichler's apartment building. The investigators collected Sinopoli's DNA samples from a coffee cup that he had thrown in a trash can before traveling at the Philadelphia International Airport.

According to a report published by Fox29, the case was solved by adopting a non-conventional strategy. District Attorney Heather Adams said that she hoped the arrest "brings some sense of relief to the victim's loved ones and to the community (who) for the last 46 years have had no answers. "This case was solved with the use of DNA, and specifically DNA genealogy, and quite honestly without that I don't know that we would have ever solved it," added Adams. She also stated that the suspect was "just not on our radar" before the new evidence pointed to him.