California DOJ criminalist testifies at trial

SOLANO COUNTY – On March 20, 2025, a jury in Solano County found guilty, a man accused of killing a 14-year-old girl in Vacaville 42 years ago. Marvin Ray Markle, 59, was convicted of first- degree murder for taking the life of De Anna Lynn Johnson on November 15, 1982.

The jury heard testimony from retired Vacaville Police Officers Joseph Munoz  and Don Waller, who originally investigated Johnson’s murder in 1982, as well as a California DOJ criminalist who processed DNA evidence under the victim’s fingernails and identified it as Markle’s.

Markle was arrested for Johnson’s murder on January 24, 2017.  At the time of his arrest at Kern Valley State Prison, Markle was serving a life sentence for the murder of Shirley Ann Pratt of Butte County.

On November 15, 1982, De Anna Lynn Johnson, who was a 14-year-old student attending Will C. Wood school was murdered in her hometown of Vacaville. Her body was found on railroad tracks just a short distance from her home, where it was apparent she had been strangled and her body badly bludgeoned.

“The long arm of the law becomes even stronger now that we have advances in science and technology.  Criminalists at California DOJ are contributing significantly to cold case investigations and prosecutions.  This verdict has been a long time coming for family members and the Vacaville community,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.

The article Criminalist: DNA recovered from Bay Area teen’s body in 1982 matches accused killer features testimony by CSLEA member Stephanie Carpenter, a senior criminalist at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento.