ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Police have asked tenants of a downtown apartment building for DNA samples after a man's badly beaten body was discovered under an outside stairwell.
Some residents of Harbour View Apartments say Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers asked them for a swab sample hours after Marcel Reardon's body was found at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Police forces across Canada are increasingly using the tactic, which has helped crack crimes but has been described as "inherently coercive" by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Jennifer Greene, 22, lives on the third floor of the building and said police took a swab sample from her at about 10:45 p.m., adding she could see the man's body just beneath her window.
"They came to me that night that it happened and asked for consent to do my DNA," she said, adding that she did not mind providing the sample.
"Oh jeez no, I just hope they catch them....I don't have nothing to hide, so sure."
She said she and her boyfriend also went to the police station to provide a statement on what they heard and saw that night.
Kathy Birmingham, who lives on the second floor, said she was pleased to help if it might lead to an arrest. She gave RNC officers a sample, which involves swabbing the inside of one's mouth for about 20 seconds.
"If it stops other people from doing something like that, it does a lot of help," she said.
A spokesman with the police force did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
In February, RCMP in northern Manitoba asked all males aged 15 to 66 in the remote Garden Hill First Nation to volunteer DNA samples as they investigated the death of 11-year-old Teresa Robinson. A 15-year-old boy was charged the following month with first-degree murder.
Toronto lawyer Enzo Rondinelli, who teaches a course in forensic science and the law at the University of Toronto and has written about what he calls "DNA dragnets," said such sweeps often focus on the people who refuse to participate.
"It may be narrowing it down to those who say no," he said in February. "Because police then say, 'Well, hmm, I wonder why the person is saying no.'
"In the eyes of the police, you may now seem suspicious and may actually now come in the crosshairs of a much more greater surveillance than you otherwise would have."
The tactic helped crack the 2003 murder of 10-year-old Holly Jones, when Michael Briere refused to give a DNA sample as police swept the girl's Toronto neighbourhood. He later pleaded guilty to her murder.
RNC Insp. Paul Woodruff said Wednesday a team was canvassing the area and collecting forensic evidence, but police had no suspects at that point.
"It's an extremely serious and important homicide investigation," he said.
