WASHINGTON - Prosecutors and investigators have linked sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad to at least two shootings, including one at a gas station in Manassas, Va., that left a man dead, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper, citing four law enforcement sources who asked not to be identified, reported that a fingerprint found on a street map booklet recovered at the station belonged to Muhammad.
The map was stolen from a library in Montgomery County, sources told the newspaper, and it was found at the scene where Dean Harold Meyers was killed Oct. 9.
Muhammad, 42, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, have been accused of shooting 18 people, killing 13 and wounding five, in five states and Washington - including the October sniper attacks that terrorized the capital and its suburbs.
The two are being tried first in Virginia, where they face capital charges. Muhammad is charged in the killing of Meyers; Malvo is charged in the fatal shooting of FBI analyst Linda Franklin on Oct. 14 outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Va.
The fingerprint on the map doesn't prove that Muhammad fired the shot that killed Meyers, but one source told the Post that "it's an important piece of the overall picture."
Peter D. Greenspun, Muhammad's attorney, declined to comment on any evidence. "We're going to continue our policy that the case will be tried in the courtroom," he said.
A preliminary hearing for Malvo is scheduled for Jan. 14 in Fairfax, Va., and prosecutors said they plan to call as many as 20 witnesses in arguing that Malvo should be tried as an adult.
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. declined to comment on specific evidence in the case, but he has said he will not use statements Malvo made to investigators as evidence at the preliminary hearing. Sources have said that Malvo admitted shooting at least three victims, including Franklin.
Malvo's attorney, Michael S. Arif, said the volume of evidence will be overwhelming for the defense teams. Arif and his partners will get help from Roger D. Groot, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, and two of his students. Arif is also planning to ask the court for money to hire investigators and forensic experts.
Among the evidence is a package of candy on which Malvo's DNA was found; the package was recovered at the site of a shooting outside a restaurant in Ashland, Va.
Also, the rifle that was in the pair's possession when they were apprehended Oct. 24 has been linked to each of the sniper shootings in the Washington area and to a fatal shooting outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.
"We have evidence that specifically links Muhammad to the scene," John H. Wilson, the police chief in Montgomery told the Post. "It's one of the strongest murder cases we've had in a long time."
The newspaper, citing four law enforcement sources who asked not to be identified, reported that a fingerprint found on a street map booklet recovered at the station belonged to Muhammad.
The map was stolen from a library in Montgomery County, sources told the newspaper, and it was found at the scene where Dean Harold Meyers was killed Oct. 9.
Muhammad, 42, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, have been accused of shooting 18 people, killing 13 and wounding five, in five states and Washington - including the October sniper attacks that terrorized the capital and its suburbs.
The two are being tried first in Virginia, where they face capital charges. Muhammad is charged in the killing of Meyers; Malvo is charged in the fatal shooting of FBI analyst Linda Franklin on Oct. 14 outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Va.
The fingerprint on the map doesn't prove that Muhammad fired the shot that killed Meyers, but one source told the Post that "it's an important piece of the overall picture."
Peter D. Greenspun, Muhammad's attorney, declined to comment on any evidence. "We're going to continue our policy that the case will be tried in the courtroom," he said.
A preliminary hearing for Malvo is scheduled for Jan. 14 in Fairfax, Va., and prosecutors said they plan to call as many as 20 witnesses in arguing that Malvo should be tried as an adult.
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. declined to comment on specific evidence in the case, but he has said he will not use statements Malvo made to investigators as evidence at the preliminary hearing. Sources have said that Malvo admitted shooting at least three victims, including Franklin.
Malvo's attorney, Michael S. Arif, said the volume of evidence will be overwhelming for the defense teams. Arif and his partners will get help from Roger D. Groot, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, and two of his students. Arif is also planning to ask the court for money to hire investigators and forensic experts.
Among the evidence is a package of candy on which Malvo's DNA was found; the package was recovered at the site of a shooting outside a restaurant in Ashland, Va.
Also, the rifle that was in the pair's possession when they were apprehended Oct. 24 has been linked to each of the sniper shootings in the Washington area and to a fatal shooting outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala.
"We have evidence that specifically links Muhammad to the scene," John H. Wilson, the police chief in Montgomery told the Post. "It's one of the strongest murder cases we've had in a long time."