Most have heard the story of Johnia Berry a man brutally murdered the Tri-Cities native in 2004 at her apartment in Knoxville.
It took Knox County investigators nearly three years to make an arrest in the case before the suspected murderer could go to trial, he killed himself. This weekend, the rest of the nation will hear that story.
Berry's family tells us the investigation Discovery Channel will feature Johnia Berry in a special episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn.
Joan Berry said the program will air Sunday night at 10 p.m. The Berry family hopes the national broadcast sparks new interest in their effort to make sure no other family has to experience a similar nightmare to the one they experienced.
They want every state in the country to pass a law requiring police to collect DNA samples for every violent offender arrested. Those samples would be stored in a DNA database. The Berry's successfully convinced Tennessee to pass that law that took effect in 2008.
Since then, two dozen other states have followed. Johnia Berry's aunt talked with me in Bluff City today at the cemetery where her niece is buried.
Patti Baker said if police just had access to a DNA database at the time of Berry's death it would've never taken investigators nearly three years to track down a suspect. Baker says those years were incredibly difficult on Berry's mom Joan and the entire family.
"We just hope that this will focus on getting the DNA legislation and that's one of Joan’s passions is getting this passed in every state so another family don't have to go through what we've been through,” said Baker.
The Sullivan County Sheriff's Office says on average, it collects DNA samples from about 12 defendants a month. That DNA is mailed off to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. There it's entered into a database and available to all law enforcement.
Sullivan County says it's never had to use the DNA database, but at some point, the sheriff's office says investigators will likely have to.
Perhaps in a rape case, where there's DNA at the scene, but no suspect. If the person responsible previously committed a violent crime in Tennessee, investigators would know, but if they committed a crime in a state without a DNA database, they'd have no clue.
That's why the Berrys want all 50 states on board. Then, the information could be shared nationally with no holes in the system.
Virginia passed a DNA database law long before anyone else more than 20 years ago. The commonwealth was the first state in the nation to pass such a law.
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