Prosecutors are hoping DNA tests will help determine who killed Stella Ann Abbott.

        On Wednesday, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin approved a prosecution request to conduct the genetic tests on blood found under Mrs. Abbott's fingernails.

        The 58-year-old Colerain Township woman died Oct. 20, 1998, after an intruder jammed a lawn dart through her head and set her Colerain Township home on fire.

        A former neighbor, Steven A. Smith, 31, is accused of killing Mrs. Abbott and is awaiting trial on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated arson.

        He has pleaded not guilty and was scheduled for trial Jan 7.

        But on Wednesday, after Judge Martin granted the prosecution's request, the trial was postponed until April 8.

        Prosecutors believe Mrs. Abbott was close enough to her killer to scratch the person before she died.

        Blood found under her fingernails during a post-mortem exam has not yet been tested, Hamilton County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier told Judge Martin. But if it does not prove to be hers, it could be linked to her killer.

        Mr. Smith is serving a life sentence in Kentucky for a similar murder that prosecutors contend proves a pattern of behavior relating to Mrs. Abbott's death.

        Authorities say the body of Florence Mary Mayne, 89, was jjfound Feb. 27, 1999 inside her burned house in Corbin, Ky. She had been sexually assaulted and fatally shot. Mr. Smith, according to court records, was her neighbor at the time.

        Defense attorneys have argued that Hamilton County prosecutors are trying to win their case by introducing an unrelated incident in Kentucky.

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