Question

suspected douglas beamish, the woman’s ex - husband. without evidence, though, the police had no way to exert pressure on beamish to confess.
a white cat named snowball helped to catch a killer.
months later, the woman’s body was discovered in a shallow grave. nearby was a bag containing a blood - spattered jacket. the jacket was similar to one owned by beamish, but police couldn’t devise a strong enough case to link him to the murder. then they discovered 27 white hairs clinging to the jacket.
close examination revealed that the hairs were from a cat. the hair, along with lingering suspicions about beamish, helped investigators make an important connection. beamish had been living with his parents, who owned a white cat named snowball. police wanted to compare snowball’s dna with dna from the hairs on the jacket. however, no canadian labs did dna testing on cats.
a lab in maryland agreed to test snowball’s blood and hair. the tests showed that the hair on the jacket was definitely snowball’s. with this evidence, a jury convicted beamish of murder. for the first time, animal dna evidence had put a criminal behind bars.
what question is not answered in the text?
a. when did the woman first disappear?
b. where was the cat dna analyzed?
c. who murdered the missing woman?
d. how did the cat hair help convict beamish?

Explanation:

• Option a: The text does not mention when the woman first disappeared.
• Option b: The text states "A lab in Maryland agreed to test Snowball’s blood and hair", so it answers where the cat DNA was analyzed.
• Option c: The text says "a jury convicted Beamish of murder", so it answers who murdered the woman.
• Option d: The text explains that the cat hair on the jacket was matched to Snowball (Beamish's parents' cat) via DNA testing, which helped connect Beamish to the crime scene (as the jacket was similar to his and had the cat hair), so it answers how the cat hair helped convict Beamish.

Answer:

a. When did the woman first disappear?