MANDEL: DNA may link older son to murder of his parents
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The Centre for Forensic Sciences biologist was asked to examine numerous bloody items taken from the Rexdale apartment where Colin and Veronica Henry were stabbed to death and dumped in their small bathtub.
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There were blood samples taken from the soaked living room couch, the mattresses, sheets, the tub, and a single yellow rubber glove that police found under the bathroom sink.
From the report prepared by Sarah Johnston, it appeared several of the DNA results pointed straight to the dead couple’s son Alpha Henry, now on trial on two counts of second-degree murder and one of the attempted murder of his younger brother — the man he claims is the real killer.
Henry, 30, has pleaded not guilty before Superior Court Justice Joan Barrett.
“Alpha Henry could not be excluded as the source of the male DNA profile … from several items: the swab from the father’s bed, the swab of the stain on the sheet from the father’s closet and the stain on the outside surface of the glove,” Johnston told the judge-alone trial.
These DNA results, she continued, are estimated to be greater than 1 trillion times more likely that they originated from Alpha Henry than if they originated from an unknown person unrelated to him.
“Unrelated to him” seems to be key. Could they have come from his brother, Daniel Henry?
Johnston explained that biological brothers will not have identical DNA profiles unless they are identical twins. She wasn’t able to actually perform that comparison because she wasn’t given a sample of Daniel’s blood but said she didn’t expect it to change the results.
“The number would be smaller than if compared to an unrelated person. But again, given that the likelihood ratio is so large, the impact of that difference is not expected to change the outcome of this testing.”
As for the Henrys’ fingernail clippings, she said Alpha’s DNA was excluded.
Prosecutors allege Alpha Henry was homeless and had a contentious relationship with his parents. Toronto Police Const. Rajinder Pathak testified that on Sept. 18, 2022, he responded to a complaint about a man who’d been sleeping in the boiler room of 2757 Kipling Ave. and escorted Alpha out of the building.
The Crown contends Alpha fatally stabbed his parents the next afternoon after video shows him gaining access to their building by following another resident inside. He was later seen on surveillance tossing a bag into the dumpster and the phone of his devout Seventh-Day Adventist mother was used to text with escort agencies that night.
The following day, more surveillance video allegedly shows Alpha buying knives and a knife sharpener at Canadian Tire and filling gas cannisters from the nearby Esso station.
His brother Daniel, an Air Canada flight attendant, returned home from Japan on Sept. 20, spent the evening with friends at a movie and then came home to the apartment he shared with his parents at about 1:30 a.m. He found his brother there and told the court he suddenly came after him with a knife.
In the ensuing struggle, Daniel testified that he managed to get the weapon and fled to the Esso where he had a motorist call 911, still unaware his parents were dead. He was initially arrested for their murders, but later released.
At the same time, Alpha was also calling 911 and insisting his brother had just come home and killed their parents.
Arriving first responders to the small Bergamot Ave. apartment soon discovered Alpha’s story didn’t appear to hold up: “They’ve been dead for awhile,” said one officer on bodyworn camera after seeing the two bodies tangled together in the bloody bathtub. “They’re stiff.”
Court has heard the Henrys appeared to have been soaked in gasoline and containers were found in the living room.
The Crown is expected to complete its case next week and Alpha Henry’s lawyer Jamie Kopman — who has accused police witnesses of ignoring his client’s signs of mental illness — will argue about the “voluntariness” of the statement he gave to police after his arrest.
The accused killer may then take the stand in his own defence — Kopman advised the judge that he’ll confer with Alpha over the weekend to determine if they’ll be calling any defence evidence.
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