# Prosecutors rely on DNA in 32-year-old Fitchburg murder arrest



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*By ADAM GORLICK 
Associated Press Writer*


WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Ronald Dame has spent the last three decades knowing police suspected him of fatally stabbing a woman he once dated.
Now 60, Dame is finally charged with the 1974 murder of Clara Provost, who was killed as her then-3-year-old son was nearby. Wearing a T-shirt advertising his tree removal and plowing business, long hair and a bushy white beard, Dame - heavyset and handcuffed - told a judge Tuesday he is innocent.
"He's been under investigation for a long time," Dame's attorney, John LaChance, said after his client pleaded not guilty to murder and was ordered held without bail by Superior Court Judge John Lu. "It's disorienting when the arrest finally comes."
Prosecutors say they now have the DNA evidence they need for a conviction in Provost's murder. The 23-year-old's body was found in her Fitchburg apartment by her mother. Provost's 3-year-old son, Nelson Provost III, was also there - unharmed - but reportedly covered in his mother's blood.

Provost's family members, including her son and his father, left Worcester Superior Court without commenting after Dame's arraignment.
Nelson Provost Jr., who was separated from Provost at the time of the killing, told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that the couple was reconciling. He said his wife was expected to move back to their home in Keene, N.H., where Provost had always lived before moving to Fitchburg.
During her split with her husband, Provost had dated Dame for about a month, Assistant District Attorney Richard Greco.
Beatrice Johnson, one of Provost's sisters, told the Telegram & Gazette she believed Dame was angry about being rebuffed.
Greco said Provost's door had been forced open the night of her murder, and Dame had scratches on his face when police first interviewed him. Dame insisted his wounds came from playing with his niece. But multiple witnesses placed Dame at a bar during the time he said he was with the little girl, Greco said.
Greco said DNA samples taken from underneath Provost's fingernails matched Dame's DNA. But LaChance said those tests were done several years ago, and officials recently did more DNA testing.
Greco would not say when the DNA testing was done or why it took 32 years to arrest Dame, and Worcester District Attorney John Conte declined repeated interview requests Tuesday.
LaChance, who did not know if Dame ever volunteered a DNA sample, said he'll likely challenge the validity of the genetic testing.
"It's over 30 years old," he said. "They're talking about testing that was done a substantial amount of time after the collection of evidence."

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