French police today took DNA samples from a Spanish man in the US suspected of the murder of British schoolgirl Ms Caroline Dickinson and will submit them for testing this weekend.
Two French officers in Miami, Florida, took charge of six samples of blood and saliva from Mr Francisco Arce Montes, lawyer Mr Herve Rouzeaud Le Boeuf told journalists here.
They will take the samples to Paris, where they will arrive Saturday morning, for testing in the city's police forensic laboratory, he said.
Ms Dickinson (13) was raped and suffocated as four of her schoolfriends slept undisturbed in a youth hostel in the Brittany town of Pleine-Fougeres in July 1996.
Restaurant worker Mr Arce Montes was arrested in Miami Beach on March 13th and held on charges of "lewd and lascivious behavior," trespassing, burglary and an immigration violation after allegedly breaking into a woman's hotel room and exposing himself.
Mr Yves Boivin, the French assistant public prosecutor handling the Dickinson case, said the result of a comparison of Mr Arce Montes's DNA and that taken from semen samples taken at the murder scene would be known within 24 hours of testing.
AFP