Overview
- Dawson was extradited from Colorado, arraigned in San Francisco and pleaded not guilty while a judge ordered him held without bail on Monday.
- San Francisco prosecutors say DNA from swabs sent to the crime lab in 2005 matched Dawson after the Homicide Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation.
- Dawson is already serving a life sentence in Colorado for a 1996 sexual‑assault murder and previously pleaded guilty in 2001 to a Florida sexual‑assault murder.
- Investigators say Dawson's DNA also matches evidence from a 2000 Seattle cold‑case killing, though he has not been charged in that case.
- The case highlights how preserved evidence and interagency DNA comparisons can revive decades‑old investigations and may prompt new probes and answers for victims' families.