Clinton Cohen says he saw the man who drove off with his 16-year-old friend the night she disappeared. Cohen just didn't know Justin Craig's name until after April when a DNA match linked Craig to the 2001 slaying of Raquel Carter of the East Hills. Based on the DNA match and Cohen's testimony, Craig was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on a homicide charge in Carter's stabbing death on the night of April 28, 2001. State and county forensic specialists testified before Allegheny County Deputy Coroner Timothy G. Uhrich that DNA from a urine stain on Carter's pants matched that of Craig, 31, of Wilkinsburg. DNA samples from convicted criminals around the nation are kept in an FBI database. Among those was a sample from Craig, who pleaded guilty to an indecent assault charge in 1999 stemming from an attack in Wilkinsburg. State forensic scientist Frank Kirst said the chances someone other than Craig left the sample on Carter's clothes was one in 10 followed by 21 zeroes. Police showed Cohen, 19, of Homewood, an array of photos that included Craig after the DNA match was made. He then identified Craig as the man he saw Carter drive off with. He identified Craig again in court yesterday. William Hart, Carter's father, said after the hearing that his daughter's death remains very painful. "You do not expect to see your child in a coffin," he said. "This is not something we would wish on our worst enemy." Carter's body was found April 29, 2001, in a wooded area near Banfield Street with a knife protruding from her neck. Allegheny County blood expert Robert Askew testified that an unstained patch on Carter's clothes suggests she was lying in the same the position in which her body was found when the urine was applied. Craig was also held for trial on a charge of abuse of a corpse. Defense lawyer Chris Patarini argued there was no evidence of when the urine was applied, and suggested Cohen could not have clearly seen Craig from where he was standing April 29, 2001.
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