Prosecutors filed a murder charge against Danny Lamont Hamilton, a prison inmate. He is accused of drowning Priscilla in a rape and burglary in a Crockett restaurant on September 24, 1996. According to a statement from Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office.
According to the statement, investigators had interviewed many people and submitted evidence for analysis. They also executed numerous search warrants. The case remained unsolved for decades.
The statement stated that detectives submitted additional evidence last year to a DNA crime laboratory and that a match was returned linking Hamilton to the crime.
According to authorities, he is currently serving a life sentence in a San Diego state prison after being convicted of unrelated sexual assault charges. It is not known if he has a lawyer who can speak for him.
Troy Kinslow was a cousin to Lewis and grew up in Port Costa. Kinslow stated that he has been haunted by her murder for many years. "I was across the road, at the bar, drinking and had seen she on her break," Kinslow explained. "And then the next morning, I went to the grocery store to buy something to drink. A friend said, you heard about her?'
He stated that he had urged detectives to reexamine this case three years ago.
He said, "They told me that you have been following us."
Kinslow said, "It was a long process and it has been very tiring physically and emotionally but I never gave in."
