The Abbeville Police Department has a trump card it is still waiting to play when it comes to solving the murder of Abbeville resident Rita “Theresa” Jordan.

The trump card is DNA.

Thursday will mark three weeks since Jordan was found stabbed multiple times while she took care of her great grandchild, who was found crying by Abbeville Fire Department’s first responders.

The first responders were called to the scene by 911 after another great grandchild went knocking on her door, and she never answered.

The detectives are working hard to find the killer, but no one seems to be talking. So with no solid leads, the police department is putting a lot of stock in what DNA results turn up.

Detectives found DNA in Jordan’s home, and police sent the evidence to the Acadiana Crime Lab in New Iberia.

Each day the detectives wait for results from the crime lab. On Monday, Lt. David Hardy was going to the Acadiana Crime Lab to submit evidence on a different case and said he would check to see if there was any results on Jordan’s DNA evidence.

Kevin Ardoin, the executive director for the Acadiana Crime Lab, said testing could take anywhere from three weeks to months. He did say if it is a homicide, the lab puts a rush on it. But the process is still complicated, which is the reason why it takes so long.

Ardoin did not know on Monday if the DNA evidence for Jordan’s murder had been processed.

Ardoin said not all evidence found can produce DNA results. The crime lab is hoping to locate a DNA profile from the evidence. That DNA profile is then put into the CODIS Data Base, which is a computer that contains thousands of felons and their DNA profiles.

The Abbeville Police Department is hoping that if a DNA profile is found, it matches with a DNA profile in the CODIS Data Base.

The Abbeville detectives have also been collecting DNA evidence on people they are questioning about the murder. They are sending the evidence to the crime lab in hopes it matches what was submitted from the murder scene.

Lt. Hardy said his detectives have been working around the clock to solve the murder case. They are questioning people in hopes someone will remember seeing someone at Jordan’s house on Martin Luther King Drive.

There is a $2,500 reward being offered for information about who murdered Jordan. If someone knows something, they can contact the Abbeville Police Department (893-2511).

A handful of murders in Abbeville have gone unsolved. There is still an unsolved murder dating back to the early 1980s.

In March of 2003, a double homicide occurred and the police have yet to find the killer. Also in 2006 a male individual was murdered and his murderer has yet to be found.