DNA on Clothing Leads to Arrest in 2003 Mom's Murder

By Alex Morgan. Sep 19, 2026

DNA recovered from clothing preserved in a 2003 homicide investigation led Dayton police to a man they have now charged with murdering Arlene Hall, more than two decades after her son first reported her missing. Investigators say the match emerged after cold-case detectives reopened the file and submitted old evidence for new testing.

Hall was last seen alive on March 19, 2003. Her son reported her missing on April 3, and detectives found her body on April 21 in the basement of a property on Germantown Street in Dayton, Ohio. Authorities determined that she had been killed.

For years, investigators followed leads without identifying a solid suspect. The case eventually went cold, leaving Hall’s family without an arrest or a trial.

Detectives Returned to the Evidence

Dayton police said cold-case investigators reviewed Hall’s file again in December 2025. That review led them to submit preserved evidence for testing that could identify a possible suspect through DNA.

In July 2026, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported a male DNA profile from clothing connected to Hall’s case. Investigators said the profile matched Jesse James Lockley Jr., now 70.

Police and FBI agents located and arrested Lockley on Sept. 15. WHIO reported that murder charges were approved after detectives interviewed him and said he made incriminating statements.

Those statements and the DNA findings are part of the evidence police say supports the charge. Lockley has not been convicted, and the prosecution will still have to prove its case in court.

A 22-Year Gap Closed Quickly

The arrest came after more than two decades in which Hall’s killing remained unresolved. Police said the new testing changed the direction of a case that had produced no solid suspect at the time of the original investigation.

The contrast is striking: investigators once had years of unanswered questions, but a new laboratory result created a direct lead from evidence that had been preserved since 2003.

People reported that Lockley has prior criminal convictions. Those prior cases do not establish guilt in Hall’s murder and should remain separate from the evidence in the current prosecution.

Lockley was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and was being held on a $1 million bond, according to reporting on the arrest. A court appearance was scheduled as the case moved from cold-case investigation into active prosecution.

Hall’s Family Waited More Than Two Decades

Hall’s son was the person who reported her missing in 2003. That detail gives the new arrest a human timeline that reaches back much farther than the laboratory testing itself.

For Hall’s family, there was no quick resolution after she disappeared. Detectives located her weeks after she was last seen, but identifying a person who could be prosecuted took another 23 years.

Dayton Police Chief Eric Henderson credited homicide and cold-case investigators, along with outside agencies, for continuing to pursue the case. He also acknowledged that an arrest cannot erase the pain of losing a loved one.

The case now enters a stage the family did not have in 2003: a named defendant, a murder charge and evidence that prosecutors can present in court.

The DNA match does not decide the case on its own. It does, however, explain why investigators believe a file that sat unresolved for more than two decades is finally moving again.

For Hall’s relatives, the development brings a long-awaited legal step. What began with a missing-person report from her son now returns to a courtroom, where the evidence will be tested after 23 years.

Cold-case investigations often depend on whether physical evidence was preserved well enough to be examined again as testing methods improve. In Hall’s case, police say the preserved clothing supplied the DNA lead that investigators did not have during the original 2003 inquiry. That evidence will now be part of a prosecution rather than an unsolved file.

References: DNA Match Leads to Arrest in 23-Year-Old Dayton Homicide Investigation | Ohio Mom Was Found Strangled in Basement in 2003. Now, DNA on Clothing Leads to Previously-Convicted Sex Offender: Police