DNA on sweet potato leads to arrest 12 years after man was fatally shot in Cape Cod
03/01/2023 2:11 pm PST
CAPE COD, Mass. (TCD) -- A 40-year-old man was arrested exactly 12 years after he allegedly shot and killed a 31-year-old man at his house in Hyannis.
In a statement shared by the Barnstable Police Department, the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office announced Feb. 24 that Devarus Hampton was arrested and charged with the shooting death of Todd Lampley.
On Feb. 27, 2011, Barnstable Police were called to a residence at 42 Fresh Holes Road regarding a shooting and found Lampley "unconscious, bleeding, and suffering from gunshot wounds in a bedroom" at the home. Lampley was declared dead at the scene.
Hampton was arraigned at the Barnstable District Court Feb. 27 — 12 years to the day of the shooting.
According to court documents obtained by CNN, on the night Lampley died, investigators found a sweet potato and shell casings near a window that looked into the room where Lampley was shot. A Massachusetts State Police detective wrote in the affidavit he believed "this potato was used as a silencing device to muffle the sound of gunshots."
The potato reportedly was "blown out and irregular" on one side and had a hole in the middle of it. The Cape Cod Times reports Hampton’s DNA was found on the sweet potato.
Hampton’s court-ordered GPS monitor reportedly linked him to the area around Lampley’s house, and he allegedly called and texted someone who was in Lampley’s residence that night.
According to the Cape Cod Times, Hampton testified at a man’s 2010 murder trial that Lampley was involved in the 2007 fatal shooting of Jacques Sellers.
Hampton is reportedly being held without bail.
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