AURORA, Colo. — Coworkers were worried when Oakey Kite failed to show up for work May 24, 2004. That concern prompted a call to the Aurora Police Department, which dispatched officers to his home at 2002 South Helena Street.
When officers arrived at the home, they found Kite’s body in the basement of his townhome. Kite had been bound, tortured, and killed with his own kitchen knives by a man who went by the name of “Robert Cooper,” who investigators later learned had answered an ad placed by Kite for a roommate.
The suspect cleaned the crime scene after the homicide and removed items of evidence from the scene. Kite’s credit card was used at nearby Wells Fargo ATM. The suspect was photographed at the ATM wearing a mask and gloves in the victim’s vehicle.
Years later, the investigation into Kite’s murder went cold. The information Robert Cooper gave the victim was false, and the grainy ATM video footage was the only picture they had of the suspected killer.
But new DNA technology may offer hope for a possible resolution to the case. Investigators have recently sought the services of Parabon NanoLabs (Parabon), a DNA technology company in Virginia that specializes in DNA phenotyping, the process of predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence.
Using DNA evidence from the case, Parabon produced trait predictions for the associated person of interest. An individual’s predictions were made for ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling and face shape. By combining these attributes of appearance, a composite profile was produced that depicts what the person of interest may have looked like at 25 years old.
Aurora Police released the composite profile Monday. The report indicates the suspect is a white male with dark or brown eyes with brown hair. Investigators caution the composite is an approximation of appearance based on DNA and is not likely to be the exact appearance of the suspected killer.
If you or someone you know can provide information on this unresolved homicide investigation, you are encouraged to contact Agent Thomas Sobieski at (303) 739-6103, email TSOBIESK@auroragov.org.
