A 68-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested 47 years ago in the cold case murder of a 22-year-old 7-eleven officer in California after new DNA analysis technology disrupted the case.
Police arrested Carlin Edward Cornett on September 14 at his Nevada home in connection with the fatal stabbing of Marine Corps veteran Christy Bryant in 1974. Police did not disclose one motive.
Bryant was working alone on the morning shift at a 7-Eleven on Highland Avenue in National City on July 31 when she was brutally stabbed, police said.
She had moved to San Diego in 1971, where she served in the Marine Corps, but was medically discharged in 1972 after being injured in a car accident, police said.
The 7-Eleven where the knife fight took place is now a dominos pizza.
Police arrested Carlin Edward Cornett, 68, (left) in connection with the stabbing of 7-Eleven employee Christy Bryant in 1974 after advances in DNA testing led to an interruption in the case
Investigation into the murder found no evidence and the case went cold, but police had drawn blood samples that appeared to be from the suspect found at the scene.
However, at the time, according to National City Investigations Lt. Derek Aydelotte no DNA testing available.
“Various NCPD detectives have looked into the case over the years, but no surefire leads have been developed,” Aydelotte said in a statement.
In 2008, the blood was included in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but according to the KVVU, it gave no results.
“The DNA profile of the blood stains remained in the system and was regularly searched without hits,” said Aydelotte.
Police had collected blood samples from the crime scene, a 7-eleven in National City, but no DNA tests were available at the time and the case went cold. The location is now a Dominos Pizza
In 2012, National City Police detectives asked the San Diego Sheriff’s Office to perform a Y-STR analysis of blood, which is normally used in familial DNA testing, Oxygen reported.
The Christy Bryant Murder Case: A Timeline
1974: Christy Bryant is stabbed to death while working in a 7-Eleven in National City that morning
2008: DNA evidence from blood drawn at the crime scene is added to the CODIS database
2012: Investigators perform a Y-STR genealogical analysis of blood
2012, 2015, 2016: Genealogical research reveals no suspects
2013: National City Police Department partners with the San Diego District Attorney to participate in their cold case DNA research program
2021: Another test and genealogy search identifies Carlin Cornett, 68, as a suspect of the murder
The California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Forensic Services performed subsequent familial DNA searches in 2012, 2015, and 2016, but they were also unsuccessful.
However, in 2013 the National City Police Department partnered with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office in a partnership that eventually paid off.
Through the prosecution-funded Cold Homicide Research Genealogy Effort (CHARGE) and further advances in DNA testing technology, an in-house genealogist with the prosecution identified Cornett, according to ABC10.
“It never got really cold, detectives always looked at it, pricked it, rated it, checked it and saw what could be done,” said the police Sgt. Mark Seagal, who worked as the senior detective on the case, said.
Cornetts is the third case that was solved with CHARGE; It was the first CHARGE case to be resolved in which the suspect was still alive, the prosecutor reported.
Cornett, who runs an insurance liability inspection company in Nevada, is expected to be extradited to San Diego to face murder.
Bryant’s sister Holly said she was 20 years old at the time of Christy’s murder and never got over the shock.
“It was a bit of desperation and disbelief and of course I was like, ‘Oh no, it can’t be,” she told ABC10.
She described her as “very kind” and “always helpful” and noted that she calls her other sister, Tari, every year on Christy’s birthday.
After several DNA searches, authorities were finally able to identify Cornett and police arrested him at his Las Vegas home on September 14 (pictured).
“We think of her a lot,” she told KSWB.
“My mother died, but she never got through it,” she said. “She dealt with it, but she never… neither of us really got over it.
“People have suffered from their loss,” she added. ‘Things she wanted to achieve and wanted to do, but she never could.’
However, after almost half a century, she hopes that justice can finally be done.
“I want him to pay for what he did,” she said. “And I hope his family can accept it too.”
