SAN DIEGO -- Stephanie Crowe's blood was discovered by county sheriff's lab technicians on a second piece of clothing worn by a man charged in the 12-year-old's death.

The blood was discovered on a T-shirt worn by Richard Raymond Tuite, (pictured, left), the night the Escondido seventh-grader was stabbed to death in her bed nearly six years ago, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The T-shirt is the second article of Tuite's clothing found to be stained with the girl's blood.

The discovery was revealed to the victim's family by state prosecutors.

DNA tests show that the drops of blood are a mixture of both Tuite's and Stephanie's blood, Cheryl Crowe, the victim's mother, told the Union-Tribune.

Tuite, 34, was wearing the T-shirt under a red sweat shirt, which also had the victim's blood on it, according to earlier testing. Both shirts were taken from him by Escondido police Jan. 21, 1998, the day the girl's body was found.

Tuite's lead attorney, Brad Patton, has said he believes the blood got on the sweatshirt through inadvertent contamination, perhaps during testing at the Escondido Police Department.

However, the discovery of drops on a second shirt would appear to make that argument less plausible.

"It's like telling someone lighting struck twice in the same spot. At some point, it becomes ludicrous," Milton Silverman, a San Diego attorney representing the Crowes in a federal civil lawsuit stemming from the case, told the Union-Tribune.

The testing was completed earlier this week at a state laboratory, according to the Union-Tribune.

Four months after the stabbing, the T-shirt was sent to a Bay Area lab for DNA testing. That lab tied the blood to Tuite, but not to Stephanie.

The new round of testing came about at the suggestion of an expert hired by Silverman and state prosecutors to examine all physical evidence in the case.

Tuite, who has denied involvement in the slaying, is being held at the County Jail without bail. His trial is set for February.