DNA From a Discarded Fork Leads to Arrest in Brutal Cold-Case Murder

This February, Anthony Scalici discarded a fork in Florida. Detectives from New York and Florida had been watching him for weeks, waiting for a chance to get a sample of his DNA.

Fifteen years before, Mr. Scalici’s uncle had been found stabbed to death in a pool of blood in the hallway of his Queens home. But the blood of an unidentified male had also been found at the scene.

The police recovered the fork, tested it, and found that Mr. Scalici’s DNA matched the blood from the murder scene, as well as DNA that had been found under his uncle’s fingernail, according to Queens prosecutors.

Mr. Scalici, 41, was arraigned Thursday morning in Queens Supreme Court on a second-degree murder charge in the killing of his uncle Rosario Prestigiacomo, 64, according to a news release by Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney.

His lawyer, David Cohen, said his client had pleaded not guilty. Mr. Scalici faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

“Defendants should not be able to evade justice no matter how much time has passed,” Ms. Katz said in a statement.