ANN ARBOR, Mich. — DNA collected from the pantyhose of a law school coed killed 36 years ago perfectly matches the genetic profile of a retired nurse now standing trial for her murder, a DNA expert testified Friday.

The forensic scientist said the odds that the biological material lifted from three stains in the hosiery did not belong to the defendant, Gary Leiterman, were one in 171 trillion.

The findings by state police crime laboratory scientist Stephen Milligan are the primary evidence against Leiterman, a 62-year-old grandfather with no known relationship to the victim.

Jane Mixer, a 23-year-old student at the University of Michigan, disappeared on March 20, 1969, after accepting a ride home for spring break with a stranger. Her body was found in a cemetery the next day. She was shot twice in the head and her pantyhose were pulled down.

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Even as Milligan offered the strong forensic testimony against Leiterman, he and a lead investigator in the case also acknowledged other scientific evidence pointing toward another man.

Milligan testified that dried blood scraped from Mixer's left hand matched the DNA of convicted murderer John Ruelas, who is now serving a life sentence for killing his mother. Ruelas was only 4 years old at the time of the crime.

Evidence from Ruelas' case was being tested in the lab at the same time as items from Mixer's murder. The defense contends it is proof of contamination at the lab. Prosecutors maintain there was no contamination, but admit being confounded by the results.

An investigator testified Friday that the lab results were strong enough that they initially considered Ruelas' uncles and father as suspects.

Sgt. Denise Powell told jurors she visited Ruelas in prison and asked him about his youth.

"He had moved from Indiana to the Detroit area at that time," she recalled him saying.

Mixer's body was discovered just outside Ann Arbor, nearly an hour's drive from downtown Detroit.

Working with Ruelas, she said, she compiled a family tree and information about weapons his relatives owned. One of them had a .22-caliber handgun, the weapon used to kill Mixer. Leiterman also owned a .22-caliber pistol.

Under questioning by defense attorney Gary Gabry, Powell acknowledged that she had spent hours searching fruitlessly for an explanation for the presence of Ruelas' blood.

"Did you find any connection between John David Ruelas and Jane Mixer other than what had been reported out of the Michigan state police lab?" he asked.

"Not from my investigation," she said. "I was unable to."

Testimony continues in the trial continues Tuesday morning.