Family of Allison Feldman 1 step closer to justice after AZ Supreme Court's DNA ruling

PHOENIX - The family of Allison Feldman, a Scottsdale woman murdered in her home nearly a decade ago, is speaking out after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that key DNA evidence will be allowed at trial for the man charged with killing her. 

Any length of time is too long when you're waiting for justice. 

Feldman's family hasn't just been waiting though, they've played an active role in moving her murder case forward and say this ruling is hopefully their last major hurdle. 

"She was just an amazing human being. I miss her, I miss her all the time," said Kelly Feldman Weinblatt, Allison's sister.

Nearly a decade after losing her, Kelly reflects on all that has changed as they continue to process her absence.

"My children were two and five when she died and my oldest is now driving a car and so it's really hard to think about all the things that she missed and all the family functions she's missing from," she said.

"My wife struggles a lot. She's missing her best friend and it's really, this week has been hard for her because it brings back all the memories and things," said Harley Feldman.

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What hasn't changed is the family's dedication to getting justice for her murder.

Harley Feldman is Allison's father. He is credited with helping investigators with a tool that ultimately cracked her case.

"I didn't know much about DNA before this but in trying to help solve her case, I learned about familial DNA search," Feldman said.

A connection at the statehouse led to testing and a familial match eventually led them to Ian Mitcham and he was arrested three years after Allison's murder.

Because Ian Mitcham's particular DNA - collected during a DUI arrest in 2015 - was supposed to be destroyed, Mitcham's lawyers argued it was against Fourth Amendment rights to use it in the murder case.

This week, Arizona's Supreme Court ruled that Scottsdale Police violated the Fourth Amendment, but that they would've discovered his DNA from a 2022 arrest and they could still use it as evidence.

This decision brought relief for Allison's family in what has been a painful back and forth.

"It's been hanging out there for quite a while as it's made its way through the different levels of court and you know it's hard to have it always keep coming back up," said Kelly.

Because Allison's case was the first time Arizona used familial DNA to find a suspect, Harley calls this his daughter's legacy. A legacy he's determined to carry on.

"I did help a case in New York State to get familial DNA search made legal again after it was declared illegal and all of those things help people help families solve crimes and I feel really good about those," said Harley. 

Ian Mitcham is set for a pre-trial conference on January 19. 

We will know a lot more about potential dates for a trial after that appearance.