The Sarasota woman, acting on a police request, gave a DNA sample from the inside of her mouth that, she said, could determine whether a Tampa man is connected to her son's disappearance.

Williams' son, Jason Galehouse, then 26, was last seen on Dec. 20, 2003, leaving a local gay bar with two men. A Tampa man who was found dead, Michael Wachholtz, 26, disappeared the same day.

Authorities are investigating whether Steven Lorenzo, 46, of Tampa, is involved in the death and disappearance. In November, a federal grand jury indicted Lorenzo, accusing him of drugging and raping seven gay men he met in bars or online. Wachholtz and Galehouse are not mentioned in the indictment.

Lorenzo is being held at Orient Road Jail on federal drug charges and is scheduled to go to trial this summer. His attorney, Donald Harrison, said Lorenzo ``staunchly denies'' the accusations.

Last week, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration searched Lorenzo's house at 213 W. Powhatan Ave.

They were thorough, Harrison said. They removed carpeting from Lorenzo's bedroom and home office, the wood floor from the living room and part of the dining room, shower curtains and two computers from a friend of Lorenzo's who has been living in the house while Lorenzo is in jail. They also pulled up part of the concrete in the garage, seized Lorenzo's furniture from a storage unit and the tenant's furniture. They previously seized two of Lorenzo's computers.

Harrison was confident investigators would find no link between Lorenzo, Galehouse and Wachholtz.

``He never met them. He doesn't know them,'' Harrison said. ``They're not going to find any DNA in Mr. Lorenzo's house. They can go search the house all day long.''

Police had not taken a DNA sample from Williams previously. Williams said Tampa police Detective Charles Massucci told her, ``I know I should've done it before.''

Because of the open investigation, Massucci declined to comment. Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy, who sat in on Massucci's meeting with Williams, said, ``Basically he was saying, `I wish I had done this before so you didn't have to come back in.' ''

Galehouse's friend, Tyler Hall, who accompanied Williams to police headquarters, said her DNA would be compared with ``materials they pulled out of the house.''

Police and the U.S. attorney's office would not confirm or elaborate on that statement. ``In any missing persons case, we don't get DNA until we feel we need to,'' McElroy said.

Massucci could not share much information with Williams because Lorenzo's case is being federally prosecuted, McElroy said. He did address some rumors she had heard.

Williams said her ``gut feeling'' is that her son is alive. A man depicted on a security videotape from a Ross store in Sarasota nearly a year ago resembles him, she said.

Reporter Anthony McCartney contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.