Twenty-seven years after her death, justice has occurred in the murder of a Spanaway woman. A Pierce County Superior Court jury last week convicted James Edward Mitchell, 52, of murder in the first degree for the 1993 stabbing death of Linda Robinson. Mitchell is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25. Robinson's possible killer was a mystery until 2013, when police detectives matched Mitchell's DNA to blood collected at the crime scene. The blood samples, in an analysis by the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, were used to identify Mitchell, which led to his conviction Feb. 24 at the end of his trial for murder. According to Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist, Mitchell's DNA profile was on file with authorities as a result of several felony convictions in the early 2000s. He said that enabled investigators to pinpoint Mitchell as the killer. "This is another success story for justice from our cold-case projectGÇ¥ and the county's Sheriff Department, which led the investigation, said Lindquist. On Feb. 6, 1993, Robinson's 7-year-old niece knocked on a neighbor's door and said her aunt was dead "and there's a fire.GÇ¥ The neighbor found Robinson dead on the kitchen floor and covered in blood. Food was burning on the stove, which caused a fire alarm to ring. Authorities said Robinson was stabbed 10 times in her back, including a fatal wound to her lungs. The cord on a telephone handset she was holding had been cut. In addition to the blood in the kitchen, police collected blood drops in the apartment's bedroom and bathroom that 20 years later pointed police to Mitchell. But immediately after the murder, detectives weren't able to identify any suspects, and the investigation was eventually suspended. After the case became focused on Mitchell, detectives learned that he and Robinson grew up across the street from each other. In 2014, he was found in Florida and arrested and extradited to Pierce County to face charges. While his blood at the murder scene was enough for a conviction of Mitchell, a motive for the murder wasn't learned. A federal grant of $225,000 funded cold-case investigations from 2012 to 2015 by the Sheriff Department and the Tacoma Police Department. Lindquist said hose efforts have enabled his office to file charges in nine longtime homicide cases, including the Mitchell case.
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