Cops Comparing DNA Of Doctor's Accused Killer To Other Crimes - Fox 2 News Headlines

Within hours of Jason Smith's arrest for the strangulation murder of Dr. Melissa Ketunuti, homicide investigators were seeking a search warrant for his DNA, hoping to help their already strong homicide case and to determine if he's been involved in any other crimes.

"That would always be something that we would want to do, obviously," said Commissioner Charles Ramsey, following an afternoon press conference.

Ramsey and others confirm that homicide detectives and the Special Victim's Unit have been looking over the evidence against Smith, trying to determine if there are any similarities to unsolved cases across the city.

"He's certainly leading us to believe this is the only time something like this has happened, but we have to make sure that we cover everything and make sure he's not involved in other types of crimes," Ramsey explained.

Ramsey and SVU investigators confirm that some of the unsolved cases they're looking at involve a man depicted in a sketch. He's wanted for three attacks on women in Pennypack Park dating back to 2010. In each case, women were driven to the park in a white work truck with ladders. The women were beaten and sexually assaulted.

"We're checking everything we can possibly check," Ramsey added.

Sources also tell FOX 29 that homicide detectives received a call Thursday from another customer of Smith's who says he visited her home in an agitated state the day after Ketunuti's murder. She has spoken to detectives.

"We're going to get calls like that. We're also going to retrace some of the jobs he's had in the past," Ramsey said. "We're going to do whatever we can to see if he's connected to any other crimes."