Weekend event to raise funds for DNA testing in Lawless murder case

Friends and family of Angela Mischelle Lawless, a 19-year-old Benton, Mo., woman killed in November 1992, will be holding a car wash and bake sale at Benton City Hall this weekend to help raise money for the cost of DNA analysis in the unsolved homicide case.

Andrea Kestner, a member of the Lawless family who is organizing the event, said she thought that a community fundraiser like a bake sale would be the most effective way to assist the Scott County Sheriff's Department with paying for the costly "touch DNA analysis" currently underway in the Netherlands.

"I just wanted to help out my family," Kestner said.

Last spring, after a judge's ruling exonerated Joshua C. Kezer, convicted in 1994, in the killing, Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter arranged to have clothing worn by Lawless sent to the Netherlands lab of DNA analyst Richard Eikelenboom.

Walter said the results of the early rounds of testing have been promising, but had to place further analysis on hold due to financial constraints.

The total cost of the testing runs about $39,000, he said.

Proceeds from the fundraiser, Kestner said, will be given to the sheriff's department to help supplement the cost of testing. The events start at 10 a.m. Saturday, Kestner said.