A 12-year-old cold case murder was solved by Massachusetts police thanks to DNA found on a sweet potato that prosecutors believed was used as a silencer in the over-a-decade-old shooting.
Massachusetts murder goes unsolved for 12 years
On February 27, 2011, in the Massachusetts village of Hyannis, 31-year-old Todd Lampley was declared dead after being shot through the bedroom window of his home.
During the investigation of the shooting, police found three shell casings, a black cell phone, and a sweet potato with a hole through it at the scene, ABC News reported. Despite the evidence, the case would go cold and unsolved for 12 years.
“Sweet” clue helps cops solve a cold case murder
If you think this sounds like a plot out of an episode of The Wire, you’d be absolutely correct. The HBO drama series featured an episode in which a sweet potato was used as a silencer.
The episode of The Wire featuring the sweet potato silencer spawned numerous Internet demonstrations that tested whether using the large starchy vegetable in that manner would actually work.
Evidence appears to indicate that the alleged killer watched that exact episode. Not only did police find a sweet potato with a hole through it at the scene of the crime, but the cell phone that was also found was registered in the name of Marlo Stanfield, a fictional character on The Wire.
“It’s an interesting fact pattern,” First Assistant District Attorney Jessica Elumba, the prosecutor, told ABC News. “The sweet potato appears to be used as a silencer.”
“Investigators believe that this potato
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