Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 10/00) - Police are awaiting a call from an Ottawa laboratory this month that will likely give them the results of DNA samples taken from the site of Shoatee Joannie's murder.

More than six months have passed since Joannie was found bludgeoned to death in his Iqaluit residence and to date, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with his murder.

Before Christmas, several bloodstained pieces of evidence were sent to a laboratory in Ottawa for DNA testing that police say they are still waiting to hear about.

Since that time, the lab has moved locations and the samples were "diary-dated" until this month.

"I'm hoping to hear this month and we are expecting to hear this month, but the lab does all of the testing for Canada and is very busy," said Cst. Lisa Ford of the Nunavut General Investigation Section.

"We just have to wait for them to call us."

Police say the combination of evidence and information they have collected along with test results will likely point to who was involved.

At the time of the September murder, special investigators were flown in from Halifax and Winnipeg and local police travelled to Cape Dorset to further their investigation.

Joannie, who was 39 at the time of his death, was Nunavut's second murder victim since April 1, 1999.

Since then, two other people -- an Iqaluit woman and a Rankin Inlet man -- have been murdered.

A Pangnirtung police officer was also shot last month, but survived with non-life-threatening injuries.