Two unrelated murder trials will get underway today thanks to DNA evidence. The evidence in one trials dates back more than two decades.

Authorities arrested Edward Kithcart last summer and charged him with the 1983 murder of Patricia "Barbara" Kilbourne, who was smothered during a rape or attempted rape in her apartment. Earlier DNA tests led investigators to rule him out as a suspect, but advances in DNA technology allowed authorities to match a small DNA sample from the crime scene to Kithcart's DNA in a database of state prison inmates.

DNA evidence was also used to charge Carl Joyner with strangling Melissa Flora in June 2004. Joyner's lawyer is arguing that several other people could be responsible for Flora's death.

Both Kithcart and Joyner face 2nd murder charges with maximum penalties of 25-years to life in prison.