"Highly likely" killer's DNA in Woolmer room

By Jim Loney

KINGSTON (Reuters) - Jamaican police plan to collect the DNA samples of every person in the 300-room hotel where Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died because it is "highly likely" the killer left DNA in his room.

Matching DNA from hotel guests to a sample from the room could give police the identity of the killer, the officer leading the murder investigation told a news conference.

Police do not know how many people were in Kingston's Pegasus hotel on the weekend that Woolmer, one of the world's most famous cricket coaches, was strangled but concede it could easily be more than 1,000.

"I think it's highly likely" the killer left DNA in Woolmer's 12th floor room, Jamaica deputy police commissioner Mark Shields said.

"In a murder situation such as this, or indeed any other, people do leave traces of DNA. It really is a question of how much."

He said "there was nothing specific" that told police the killer had left such traces.

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Woolmer's lifeless body was found on March 18 the day after his heavily favoured Pakistan side were eliminated from the World Cup by debutants Ireland.