**Update: February 24, 2005
DNA shows Rhodes not Jerica’s dad
By Oliver Mackson
Times Herald-Record
omackson@th-record.com**
Goshen – DNA helped authorities get an indictment charging Christopher Rhodes with the murder of his 7-year-old daughter in Highland Falls last month.
But DNA has now created a another mystery: Who is Jerica’s father?
DNA proved that it wasn’t Christopher Rhodes, who’s accused of stabbing her 16 times the morning of Jan. 27.
Jerica’s body was found in a bathroom at Sacred Heart of Jesus School, after Rhodes dropped her off. She lived with his parents, but he drove her to and from the school in Highland Falls every day.
When Rhodes got the news about the DNA evidence at the Orange County Jail, “it came as a surprise, no question about it,” said Rhodes’ lawyer, Sol Lesser of New Windsor. “He always believed Jerica was his daughter, and he did whatever he could to make a better life for her.”
The revelation about Jerica’s father was contained in evidence that prosecutors turned over to Lesser as part of the pretrial discovery process.
Lesser acknowledged Tuesday that the evidence included DNA tests conducted at the state police lab in Albany.
The tests don’t reveal the identity of Jerica’s father, Lesser said. He declined to elaborate on the conclusions in the DNA tests.
The bombshell adds a new layer of mystery to a story that’s already puzzling.
Christopher Rhodes, 27, has steadfastly denied that he killed the girl. He was indicted Feb. 2, based on evidence that included the discovery of Jerica’s DNA on a jacket that police removed from Rhodes’ home on Mountain Avenue, after they obtained a search warrant.
State police have told prosecutors that the lion’s share of the DNA test results won’t be available until May, District Attorney Frank Phillips said yesterday.
“Obviously, the paternity issue certainly was a bombshell,” Phillips said. “How it plays out remains to be seen. That’s how I would characterize it without speculating on how it will factor into the prosecution.”
Lesser disagreed, saying, “I think it’s a side issue that, in my view, has no relevance to how this case is going to develop.”
Jerica was born in Bridgeport, Conn., on Dec. 10, 1997, according to Orange County Family Court records. Her mother, Lisa Mason, is now 26 and lives in Utica. She said yesterday that, “at no point did I ever assume or acknowledge that Christopher Rhodes was Jerica’s father.”
She also said of Rhodes’ parents, “You can’t tell me that they didn’t know this information.”
But Family Court records also show that Mason and Christopher Rhodes both told Judge Andrew Bivona that Rhodes was Jerica’s father.
And in 2000, after Rhodes filed for custody of Jerica, there was no dispute for the judge to settle. According to court records, Mason consented to a plan that put Jerica in Rhodes’ custody and gave Mason visitation rights.
Although Rhodes had custody, Jerica spent most of her life with Linwood and Linda Rhodes, who were presumed to be her grandparents.
In Linwood Rhodes’ eyes, Jerica is still his granddaughter, regardless of what science says.
“It came as a total surprise to us,” he said last night. "We took care of this child. We sent this child to private school. She lived with us. We took her with us everywhere we went.
“She’s still, as far as I’m concerned, my granddaughter. I still love her, I still have her in my heart, and that’s how I’m going to remember her.”
