Norman Police Gather DNA Evidence From Man Possibly Linked To Cold Case

There are new developments in an unsolved murder case out of Norman. Police have now collected DNA evidence from a metro man who they believe may have something to do with it.

Norman police just filed this search warrant in Oklahoma county court Tuesday, and it could be their key to cracking the murder of a Norman woman back in 1989.

On Tuesday, Norman police gathered DNA evidence from Timothy John Bates, who also goes by the name Anthony Archilta. Bates was charged with a similar murder in Anadarko 23 years ago, and may be the missing link to solving the murder of Dorothy Estes, a Norman woman who was found strangled to death in her home at a trailer park off Lexington.

Captain Tom Easley says he doesn't know why the connection was missed early on, but says subsequent investigative work led them to finally get a saliva sample from Bates.

The search warrant states both women had been "choked to death" and that Bates had a pattern of being involved in domestic incidents where he choked and strangled his victims, and threatened to kill his victims.

Bates was acquitted of the Anadarko murder after his trial resulted in a hung jury.

"We are certainly not saying he did it, there're only two possible outcomes. Only two outcomes," Captain Easley said.

Those DNA swabs have been sent to the OSBI for testing.

We did try to contact Bates for this story. He did not return our phone call.

Norman police say they had a hard time tracking down Bates but finally located him at a business in Northwest Oklahoma City.