Ciara Glennon’s body was found 19 days after she went missing, in bushland 40 kms north of Perth on April 3, 1997.

She was found fully clothed, her shirt covered in blood. 

After her post-mortem, her shirt was sent off for DNA testing, but what scientists found was unusual. They found nothing, not even Ciara’s own DNA.

This was explained by senior forensic scientist Scott Egan, who told the court it was likely exposure to the elements destroyed all DNA, even Ciara’s.

But when asked how DNA was found under her fingernails, that’s because, according to the forensic scientist, they were somewhat protected. 

It was the testing of the DNA of Ciara’s fingernails which came under questioning again today, this time by the prosecution, and as Tim Clarke and Alison Fan explain in this episode, they managed to get some ground back after an embarrassing end to the week for PathWest, with seven contamination events found on Claremont exhibits.

Mr Egan told the court, however, in total, PathWest counted 28 ‘quality issues’ in their more than 17,000 tests of Claremont exhibits over 25 years, an average error rate of around 0.16%, which he said was lower than the global average.

He also defended his lab practices, saying he couldn’t see any opportunities of how Bradley Edwards’ DNA could have come into contact with the Karrakatta rape victim’s samples to contaminate it - as the defence has suggested.

The prosecution today even called that theory ‘fanciful’.

Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison Fan as they take you through the details of day 55.

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