NCIS takes fresh look at cold case

In a case with elements from prime-time TV dramas, the Cold Case Unit of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is hoping advances in forensic science will help solve a 17-year-old Lowcountry murder mystery.

The body of James Alan Horton, a 22-year-old sailor who was stationed at the former Charleston Naval Base, was found in a drainage ditch off Summerville Light Road in Berkeley County on Nov. 14, 1992.

"His body was face down in about 4 feet of water, and his hands were tied behind his back," said Ed Buice, public affairs officer for the NCIS in Washington, D.C.

Horton had been shot in the chest and struck in the head with a blunt object, Buice said. "Evidence also indicates that Horton knew his attacker," he said.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office and the NCIS Cold Case Unit are collecting DNA samples from a number of people as part of an ongoing probe into Horton's death, Buice said. The North Charleston Police Department also is assisting in the investigation.

Horton, who was from Shelburne, N.Y., had been assigned to the ocean minesweeper Exultant. He was seen at the CNS Federal Credit Union ATM on the base about 9 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1992. He was seen later that night in two local bars: Puzzles/American Sports Bar, which was on the Navy base and Rockin' John's, which was on Montague Avenue.

Investigators were able to collect traces of DNA from several pieces of evidence in the case, Buice said. "But it is only recently that DNA science has advanced to the point that those small samples could be analyzed and identified, using a process known as 'touch DNA.' "

Touch DNA is the same process used in 2008 to exonerate the family of JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old beauty queen from Boulder, Colo., whose parents and brother had been under a cloud of suspicion since her slaying in 1996.

Touch DNA refers to the DNA that is left behind from skin cells when a person touches or comes into contact with an item, according to the Web site of Bode Technology, the company that developed the technique. In the Ramsey case, tests on skin cells that were left behind on JonBenet's long underwear pointed to an unexplained third party who was not a family member.

Recently, NCIS special agents traveled to Athens, Ga., and Montauk, N.Y., to investigate former sailors living in those areas who may know about the killing or may have participated in it, Buice said.

"We're also searching for other people who, while they had nothing to do with the murder, may have served on the Exultant or other minesweepers in Charleston at the time, and who might have helpful details perhaps even without realizing it," Buice said.

Investigators have interviewed a number of people with information about the killing and are steadily building a case, he said.

NCIS was the first federal agency to establish a full-time cold case squad, Buice said. The unit was established in 1995. NCIS was expected to hold a news conference in the Charleston area this afternoon, Buice said.

Anyone with any information about this case should call Crime Stoppers at 554-1111.

Reach David W. MacDougall at macdougd@postandcourier.com or 937-5655.