NM man untied to Allen/Cutshall murders

SONOMA COUNTY, California (WOOD) - DNA evidence does not connect a New Mexico man to the 2004 killings of a West Michigan native and his fiance. 

62 year-old Joseph Henry Burgess was killed last week in a shooting in Sandoval County, New Mexico.  He is a suspect in the shooting deaths of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall.  

The Sheriff's Department in Somona County, California said last weekend detectives traveled to New Mexico and met with law enforcement authorities there. They returned to Sonoma County and submitted evidence they seized, including a DNA sample from Burgess and an expended .45 caliber bullet for analysis.

The Sheriff's Department said both items were examined by the California Department of Justice Crime Lab. The DNA sample from Burgess did not match any of the DNA evidence seized from the crime scene in 2004. Additionally the .45 caliber round did not match existing evidence regarding the weapon used in the homicides.

The Sheriff's Department says Friday's finding does not exclude Burgess from being the killer and he will continue to be a person of interest.

Allen and Cutshall were counselors at a Christian river rafting camp. They were camping on the beach when they were shot during the night.

Burgess is also a suspect in a similar case from 1972 in Vancouver where another couple was killed on the beach.