Cold Case Killing: DNA On Coffee Cup At Philly Airport Leads To Charge

PHILADELPHIA — A man has been charged with murder in connection with a 1975 killing after authorities pulled DNA from a coffee cup at the Philadelphia International Airport.

According to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office and Manor Township Police, David Sinopoli, 68, of Lancaster was charged with the 1975 killing of 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler in Manor Township.

Sinopoli was charged with criminal homicide after being taken into custody Monday at his home.

He was arraigned and remanded to Lancaster County Prison without bail.

The charges stem from a length investigation that led authorities to surreptitiously get Sinopoli's DNA from a coffee cup he used and threw into a trash can before traveling at the Philadelphia International Airport on Feb. 11.

Biechler, 19, was found dead in her Manor Township apartment on the evening of Dec. 5, 1975. She was stabbed multiple times at her Kloss Drive home after returning from the grocery store in the early evening hours.

Her aunt and uncle found her at about 8:46 p.m. and called police.

Investigators found blood on the outside of the front door as well as the wall on the entrance way and several patches of blood on the carpet of Beichler’s home.

Biechler got home from the grocery store between 6:45 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. and grocery bags from a market sat on the dining room table.

Investigators saw signs of a struggle inside the apartment and found Biechler lying on her back with a knife sticking out of her neck that had a tea towel wrapped around the wooden handle.

The knife matched the knives stored in Biechler’s knife block located in the kitchen.

The Lancaster County Coroner’s Office ruled the cause of death as massive bleeding due to multiple stab wounds, and the manner of death as homicide.

Biechler was stabbed 19 times in her neck, chest, upper abdomen, and back.

Manor Township Police detectives and Pennsylvania State Police conducted an in-depth investigation into the homicide and followed multiple leads over the years, clearing dozens of people.

The investigation spanned decades, with evidence being sent to multiple labs and interviews of multiple subjects.

In 1997, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office submitted evidence from the crime scene for DNA analysis.

As a result, a male DNA profile was obtained from the right-side of Biechler’s underwear and was determined to contain semen.

In 2000, this DNA profile was submitted to CODIS, a nationwide database which contains DNA profiles of individuals convicted of certain crimes.

Investigators never received a hit on this case’s entry into the CODIS system.

In January 2019, with the agreement of the Manor Township Police Department, the case was taken on by Lancaster County District Attorney’s Cold Case unit formed in 2019.

Later in June 2019, the unit enlisted the help of Parabon NanoLabs to analyze DNA in the case using its Snapshot Advanced DNA analysis service.

Then in September 2019, investigators released composites provided by Parabon based on DNA evidence left at the crime scene.

The composites revealed characteristics of the suspect including skin tone, eye color, and hair color.

In December 2020, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office requested that Parabon proceed with further genetic genealogy analysis.

Parabon’s genetic genealogy research ultimately identified Sinopoli through his Italian ancestry as a possible person of interest.

On Feb. 11, investigators surreptitiously obtained DNA from Sinopoli from a coffee cup he used and threw into a trash can before traveling at the Philadelphia International Airport.

The coffee cup was then submitted to DNA Labs International for testing and in April 2022, it was determined that the DNA on the coffee cup contained a mixture of DNA with one male contributor.

The electronic data files from DNA Labs International were then forwarded to Cybergenetics, a Pittsburgh laboratory that specializes in separating DNA mixtures.

Cybergenetics’ computer analysis concluded that the DNA on Sinopoli’s coffee cup and DNA identified in the semen on Biechler’s underwear had a match statistic around 10 trillion.

Detectives then consulted with a blood spatter expert to determine if any blood left behind on Biechler’s clothing would be consistent with having been left behind by the suspect.

The expert identified two blood spots on the exposed part of the victim’s pantyhose, which were also sent to DNA Labs.

In June 2022, the blood drops were determined to be consistent with the DNA profile obtained from Biechler’s underwear.

Anyone with information on this case or who had familiarity with Sinopoli during the December 1975 timeframe is asked to contact Lancaster County Detective Christopher Erb at 717-299-8100 or click here to submit a tip online here.