BONHAM — Deputies from the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office discovered misplaced evidence Wednesday morning from the Jennifer Harris-Holman murder case, according to Sheriff Kenneth Moore.

The sheriff said the discovery was made inside one of the two storage containers where evidence is kept. 

Harris-Holman, 25, was murdered in 2002. A shirt, bra, and jeans believed to be Jennifer's were found months later near the Red River site where her body was found floating.

New technology exists to test the degraded DNA on the clothing, but the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office had not been able to locate the evidence and send it away.

It was in a bag by itself, Sheriff Moore said, with the case number on it; the date it was checked in; and when it was opened for the first unsuccessful test at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas.

Moore said the previous sheriff’s administration did not yet use property sheets to track evidence such as the bag of clothing, which is likely the reason it was misplaced. With no tracking device, a lieutenant and an investigator had to go through every box of evidence searching for it.

Sheriff Moore keeps Harris-Holman's case file on his desk as a reminder of the county's only unsolved murder. He said he has gone back through the cold case personally searching for clues that might have been overlooked.

It's uncertain how crucial how the clothing could be in identifying a suspect. Sheriff Moore and Fannin County District Attorney Richard Glaser said they won't know if it's useful in pinpointing Harris-Holman's murderer until it can be tested.

A Fort Worth laboratory is among the few places that can test degraded DNA using a Y-STR test — only if a Texas Ranger requests it.

Sheriff Moore said he will have it tested as soon as possible, either in Tarrant County or out of state.