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Murder suspect in court for felony hearing

By JOLEEN FERRIS

Story Created: Mar 27, 2012 at 5:53 PM EDT

Story Updated: Mar 27, 2012 at 5:53 PM EDT

NEW YORK MILLS, N.Y. (WKTV) The man accused in a five-year-old murder in the town of Deerfield made a brief court appearance Tuesday. Oneida County Sheriff's Investigators say 30-year-old Craig Ingersoll of north Utica strangled Jennifer Bennet to death and left her body behind the Deerfield Firehouse off of Trenton Road in January of 2007.

Ingersoll is also accused of forcibly sodomizing Bennett. On Tuesday he waived a felony exam, sending his case straight to Oneida County Court for a possible indictment, or, formal charge.

Investigators arrested Ingersoll after getting a DNA 'hit'-a perfect match-on the state DNA databank.

Ingersoll was arrested on unrelated charges in the past two years. Recent expansions to the state DNA databank meant he was required to give a DNA sample after that 2010 arrest.

Victim Jennifer Bennett's mother has waited five years for this day. She sat in New York Mills Village Court on Tuesday only feet from the man whose face she began to wonder if she'd ever see.

"The whole thing has been bittersweet but for five years, two months and 17 days I've been waiting to find the face of the person that did this," said Denise Saunders.

Ingersoll is in the Oneida County Jail without bail as the case progresses. The lower court can't set bail for murder.

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