U.S. Pathologist Exonerates Cllr Gloria Musu-Scott, others in Charloe Musu's Murder Trial

MONROVIA: A Nigerian-born US-based forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Charloe Musu has testified that the DNA profile taken from the victim's fingernails shows that she was allegedly murdered by a male intruder.

"We compare the defendant's blood samples with the fingernails clippings from Charloe Musu, and the only DNA profile is that of a minor contributor by a male in the fingernails profile of the left hand and now we have YSTR that we can use to match any suspect even males who were at the scene that night of February 22 , the night Charloe was murdered".

                                By Rachel T. Saykiamien

Taking the witness stand on Tuesday, December 12, the Nigerian-born USA pathologist Dr. Matthias Okoye said: "There is a male who may have been more likely the intruder or invader of the house who caused the injuries or death of the victim".

According to him, the percentage confidence of the DNA is more than 90 percent noting, "out of a billion, the use of Y-STR DNA amplification, and PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), is that even if the suspect doesn't volunteer to give his specimen, his father or grandfather or Male cousins can".

Y-STR testing explicitly targets STR regions on the male Y chromosome that is passed down through the paternal lineage example father to son

(SAKI Sexual Assault Kit Initiative)

The witness who is an expert testimony contradicts the initial findings by Dr. Benedict Kolee, chief Pathologist of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital. Dr. Okoye described Dr. Kolee's autopsy on the remains of the late Charloe Musu as incorrect.

The Liberia Dr. who was called by prosecution to testify in the murder case said in his DNA analysis, there was no Y chromosome ( male dna) identified, " the DNA analysis done revealed that everything was female and there's no male identity"

However, Dr. Okoye's claimed Kolee findings are not actually DNA analysis but instead Chromosome karyotype.

"It is used in paternity testing to know whether there is a disease of individuals. It can only show you whether it is the female or male" Dr. Okoye noted

According to Medline Plus, Karyotyping is a test used  to examine chromosomes in a sample of cells. This test can help identify genetic problems as the cause of a disorder or disease.

The next step of DNA analysis according to him is that a DNA molecule can be taken from the gene, extracted, replicated and amplified with what he refers to as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

"So that way, that is what we used here in order to get the analysis. If we used chromosome chromatids type, we will not arrive at the inclusion of a male being a minor contributor with the left hand of the deceased" the defense expert witness said".

According to him the DNA analysis on the fingernails clippings on the left hand of the victim identified it as a foreign male contributor, whom she may have scratched during the process of being murdered.

“The swap spatter of the hall way, we then analyzed it is all consistent with those of Charloe Musu, no other contributor”

Also, Dr. Okoye testified that the swabs of blood spatter from the hallway and on the bedsheets taken from Cllr Gloria Musu-Scott's bedroom and bathroom all shows Charloe Musu's DNA profile

He emphasized: “There is complete exclusion of defendant Gloria Musu-Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson and Rebecca Youndeh Wisner. The blood samples collected during the investigation in the hallway, and on bedsheets of Gloria Musu-Scott and bathroom were all the DNA profile of Charloe Musu"

According to Dr. Okoye, the findings of his autopsy report are consistent with a cause of death of multiple Blunden force trauma and multiple scare wounds resulting in hemorrhage and the major cause of death was ruled as a homicide.

 He said: “The multiple wounds on the remains of Charloe is caused by an individual scaling or intruder into the home and this intruder is someone who is consistent to be a male and muscular and the defendants none of them would individually hit on Charloe because she was twenty-nine years old, 5ft 4in tall and estimated weight of 190pounds ( 86kg).

Dr. Matthias Okoye was hired as an expert pathologist by lawyers representing the legal interests of Cllr Gloria Musu-Scott and three other family members accused of murder.

The Expert witness is a physician, lawyer and a Forensic pathologist with over forty-two year plus experience  in the United Kingdom, Americas, and Africa, and has conducted over 20, 000 forensic examinations including Angel Tokpah, Harry Greave Victoria Zayzay and that of Charloe Musu on November 9, 2023