Mistrial declared after report that girl killed in 1986 had been placed in used body bag

Audio By Carbonatix

An 11-year-old Connecticut girl who was raped and killed in 1986 was reportedly placed in a used body bag at the time, a new allegation that led to a mistrial in a murder case Monday over concerns about evidence contamination.

Marc Karun was on trial on murder and kidnapping charges in connection with the killing of Kathleen Flynn, a sixth grader who was attacked walking home from her middle school in Norwalk. Karun, now 60, once lived in Norwalk and was arrested in 2019 at his home in Stetson, Maine.

During the trial in Stamford, Connecticut, on Thursday, prosecutors disclosed that they recently received an email from a retired Norwalk police lieutenant who said a state crime lab official told him shortly after Flynn's killing that she had been placed in a used body bag. The lieutenant, Robert Fabrizzio, said he was reporting possible evidence contamination.

Fabrizzio said the state crime lab official who told him about the body bag was Henry Lee, the famed forensic scientist known for his work on the O.J. Simpson murder case and other high-profile crimes across the country. Lee, who headed the crime lab at the time, died last month at age 87. A message left at a phone listing for Fabrizzio was not immediately returned.

Judge John Blawie declared a mistrial on Monday because of concerns over the evidence, saying he believed he had no choice. But he said he would not dismiss the case.

State's Attorney Paul Ferencek, who revealed Fabrizzio's email in court last week, said in a statement that prosecutors will be working with the state crime lab and medical examiner's office to see if Fabrizzio's claim is true.

“We’re obviously disappointed by this turn of events, especially for the family members of Kathy Flynn, who have waited forty years for justice and some degree of closure," his statement said.

The claim about the used body bag came as a surprise to crime lab officials, said Rick Green, a spokesman for the lab and agency that oversees it, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. He said forensic scientists from the lab stand by their trial testimony.

Karun's lawyer, Francis O'Reilly, declined to comment. Karun remains detained on $5 million bond.

Norwalk police alleged Karun killed the girl on Sept. 23, 1986. He was later convicted of sexually assaulting or kidnapping four other female victims in the 1980s and served about 10 years in prison.

Police said advances in DNA testing technology, and the fact that Karun's other attacks were similar to how Flynn was killed, led to his arrest in 2019. A state forensic lab official testified last week that testing on scrapings from Flynn's fingernails showed that the DNA found was 22,000 times more likely to have belonged to Flynn and Karun than from the girl and another person, Hearst Connecticut Media reported.

Shortly after Karun's arrest, police said they found nearly 90 rifles and handguns at his Maine home. He was barred from having firearms because he was a convicted felon, authorities said. Karun pleaded guilty to federal gun charges in 2024 and is set to be sentenced in that case in July, federal court records show.