DNA Evidence in Namaranian Case 'Inconclusive'

Investigators in the case of missing Altria employee Leyla Namiranian are 'no closer to solving it', according to sources.

Sources said to be 'close to the investigation' told CBS 6's Angela Pellerano that relevant items sent last week to the state crime lab in the hope of identifying a suspect, have proven inconclusive. Investigators say they may now take fresh DNA samples from two persons of interest in the case, to confirm there has been no error with previous samples.

41-year-old Namiranian, Director of Marketing and Consumer Research for US firm Altria Client Services, of Chesterfield, Virginia, USA, disappeared in April without notifying friends or colleagues, but after allegedly telling her brother she planned to meet with someone she had met online. In June, police said they had searched the car and apartment of a man connected with Leyla, but not yet made an arrest, and that officers had found two of her cell phones on different roads nearby.

Of two 'persons of interest' in the case identified by police, one said he was dating Namaranian at the time of her disappearance - CBS 6 says it has learned that this individual 'was convicted in 1990 of brutally stabbing a woman and assaulting her daughter'.

Altria, previously named Philip Morris Companies Inc., is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations, online at www.altria.com . CBS 6 has a home page at www.wtvr.com .