Scottsdale police: Arrest made in 2015 murder of Allison Feldman

Scottsdale police said Tuesday they have made an arrest in the 2015 murder of Allison Feldman, a case that shook the community for months, as police were unable to make an arrest in the killing.

The suspect was identified as Ian L. Mitcham, 42, of Tempe, who was arrested Tuesday outside a Phoenix deli where he worked, is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, police said at a press conference.

Feldman, 31, was found murdered in her home near Pima and Thomas roads.

Scottsdale police said they believed the killer was inside Feldman's home sometime late at night Feb. 17, 2015, to the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 2015. Police have not established anything to indicate Mitcham and Feldman knew each other, Scottsdale Police Assistant Chief Scott Popp said.

Popp said the family would often leave doors and windows open to get a breeze through the house.

"It was a great time of the year in the state of Arizona and her and her family were used to coming up to her house and having the doors and windows open to let that breeze blow at that time of year," Popp said.

Investigators said the attacker pocketed Feldman's Tiffany bracelet, her iPhone 6 and some credit cards.

MORE: 2 years later, Allison Feldman remembered after killing

Police previously said they had obtained a sample of the killer's DNA in the days following the murder. It was believed the killer suffered minor cuts or injuries on the hand or arms during a struggle with Feldman.

After Scottsdale police exhausted all other avenues in the investigation, they turned to a time-consuming DNA search program, Popp said.

A state database compiles DNA collected from people who have been in prison.

Working with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, investigators eventually expanded the DNA search to look for potential family member DNA to identify a suspect, Popp said. He also credited the Governor’s Office, Attorney General’s Office and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

The process took roughly six to eight months to set up and was the first time in Arizona that familial DNA searches have been used successfully, Popp said.

Arizona is one of 12 states in the United States to have used this process, officials said.

"The process widens the search parameters of the offender database to identify people that may be close relatives of the person who committed the crime. Using this process, we were able to develop a match, which ultimately led to Mitcham’s arrest today," Scottsdale police said in press release, explaining the technique.

Mitcham was identified through his brother, who was in custody in Arizona.

"Scottsdale PD found an unknown DNA sample at the crime scene. We compared that sample to our DNA database of our arrested offenders here in Arizona," Scottsdale Police Chief Alan Rodbell said. "We came up with a family linkage to this person that was in custody and then through that information we were able to identify the sibling of that person in custody."

Mitcham had no violent criminal history but in January 2015, a month before the murder, Mitcham was arrested for an aggravated DUI in Scottsdale, Popp said.

Police previously said they believed Feldman knew her killer and that this was an isolated attack.

Further details on the arrest were not immediately available.

Feldman's sister, Kelly Feldman Weinblatt of Minnesota, told The Arizona Republic the family is "still kind of processing'' the news of an arrest.

"It’s something that we’ve obviously been wanting for a long time. We’re thrilled with that,'' she said. "Obviously, we’re really thankful to the Scottsdale police. We’re thrilled there’s been an arrest made.

"But at the same time, it’s bittersweet. This isn’t bringing her back. We’re likely never going to get the answers that we want,'' she added. "But certainly we’re thrilled to hear that an arrest has finally been made and hopefully this will lead to some sort of closure for us. At least it’ll answer hopefully the who. I don’t know if we’ll ever know the 'what' or the 'why' but at least we’ll know the 'who.'''

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