DNA evidence may give Albany police a break in the unsolved murder of a 14-year-old girl.
The Times Union reports that DNA from an attack similar to the Gretchen Perham murder matches a suspect already in custody. Darius Ashley, 29, was arrested on a separate rape charge last month.
The paper said police are looking into similarities between a failed knife-point abduction on June 9 and Gretchen Perham's murder in May.
The paper said Ashley's DNA was found on a towel at the crime scene of the June attack.
At this point, police won't confirm whether there's any evidence connecting Ashley or anyone else to Perham's murder.
The DNA of a man already in jail on a rape charge was found near the scene of an attempted abduction in Albany.
Albany Police Det. James Miller said, "It's just a situation where certain investigations take more time than others. Sometimes it's clear-cut evidence, and there's clear-cut information that leads you to a specific suspect. Others, sometimes there's walls that need to be broken down."
Investigators said progress is being made in the Perham case, and the department is asking for the public's patience while detectives continue to follow up on leads.