A man connected to a brutal stabbing death cold case was arrested more than 20 years later after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, Glendale police said Wednesday.
Phillip Arnez Ettress, 46, was arrested on suspicion of murder Jan. 20 when he was released from county jail. He had just completed his term for an unrelated burglary charge, police said.
DNA linked Ettress to the violent death of Avery Carlton Howard, 41, who was found stabbed to death in his kitchen in the 1700 block of Orchard Place Oct. 12, 1993.
Ettress was linked to the homicide after a detective reopened the case in 2015 and submitted for testing DNA evidence that had been collected at the crime scene.
In 1993, one of Howard's friends had called police and asked that officers check on his welfare because he hadn't been seen or heard from in days.
"Officers responded to Howard's residence ... and found his door unlocked,'' William said. "They went inside and found Howard deceased. Howard had been violently attacked inside his own home with a kitchen knife.''
Homicide detectives collected "numerous'' pieces of evidence at the scene, followed "multiple leads and found surveillance footage of Howard inside a 7-Eleven store in Glendale with an unidentified man prior to the discovery of his death,'' William said. "This was the last time Howard was seen alive. The man in the footage with Howard was never identified and the case went cold.''
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After the case was reopened and the DNA submitted to the Verdugo Regional Crime Lab, which is housed inside the Glendale Police Department, forensic examiners found a match to Ettress, William said.
"Detectives researched Ettress and found that he had an extensive criminal history, and as they looked at his prior booking photos, they saw a startling match to the man in the 7-Eleven surveillance footage with Howard,'' the sergeant said.
Investigators learned that Ettress was in custody and nearing the end of his sentenced term. They went to the jail and served a warrant that allowed them to take a "confirmatory'' DNA swab from the prisoner that allegedly confirmed his presence at the 1993 crime scene, William said.
Detectives were waiting for Ettress when he was released from jail and arrested him on suspicion of murder.
He's now being held in lieu of $1.02 million bail at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic and is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 14 in Pasadena, according sheriff's online inmate records.
