Six years after a Snellville business owner is gunned down inside his car dealership, charges have finally been brought in the case thanks to DNA evidence.

Domingo Espinal was shot to death during an armed robbery at A&B Autos Inc. in 2007. The Halloween mask, sweatshirt, and gloves worn by the suspect were later discovered nearby.

Snellville Police Chief Roy Whitehead says the items were sent to the GBI crime lab for testing but two sets of DNA were found on the mask.  At the time, the lab did not have the technology to separate the two.

It was not until a few months later when 31-year-old Altora Roane was making an appearance in municipal court, did a Snellville officer realize he matched the description of the suspect and lived not far from the murder scene.  Roane was already charged in another armed robbery in which a Halloween mask was used.

DNA samples were ordered for Roane, and sent to a private lab.  It was able to positively match the results to Roane.

“We’re always happy when we can do that particularly for the family to finally get some resolution because there a lot of questions surrounding this and it’s also unsettling for a community when you have these things that have not been able to be cleared,” Whitehead tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

The information was presented by the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office to a grand jury which returned a murder indictment against Roane this week.

He is currently serving a 25 year prison sentence in the other armed robbery.