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How Genealogy Websites Make It Easier To Catch Killers (ieee.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: Over the past six months a small, publicly available genealogy database has become the go-to source for solving cold case crimes. The free online tool, called GEDmatch, is an ancestry service that allows people to submit their DNA data and search for relatives -- an open access version of AncestryDNA or 23andMe. Since April, investigators have used GEDmatch to identify victims, killers, and missing persons all over the U.S. in at least 19 cases, many of them decades old, according to authors of a report published today in Science. The authors predict that in the near future, as genetic genealogy reports gain in popularity, such tools could be used to find nearly any individual in the U.S. of European descent.
GEDmatch holds the genetic data of only about a million people. But cold case investigators have been exploiting the database using a genomic analysis technique called long-range familial search. The technique allows researchers to match an individual's DNA to distant relatives, such as third cousins. Chances are, one of those relatives will have used a genetic genealogy service. More than 17 million people have participated in these services -- a number that has grown rapidly over the last two years. AncestryDNA and 23andMe hold most of those customers. A genetic match to a distant relative can fairly quickly lead investigators to the person of interest. In a highly publicized case, GEDmatch was used earlier this year to identify the "Golden State Killer," a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, but was never caught. In April, investigators were able to use a genealogy database to narrow down DNA data from crime scenes and identify the "Golden State Killer," a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s.
GEDmatch holds the genetic data of only about a million people. But cold case investigators have been exploiting the database using a genomic analysis technique called long-range familial search. The technique allows researchers to match an individual's DNA to distant relatives, such as third cousins. Chances are, one of those relatives will have used a genetic genealogy service. More than 17 million people have participated in these services -- a number that has grown rapidly over the last two years. AncestryDNA and 23andMe hold most of those customers. A genetic match to a distant relative can fairly quickly lead investigators to the person of interest. In a highly publicized case, GEDmatch was used earlier this year to identify the "Golden State Killer," a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, but was never caught. In April, investigators were able to use a genealogy database to narrow down DNA data from crime scenes and identify the "Golden State Killer," a serial rapist and murderer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s.
These sites are bad for the environment. Every serial killer offsets the CO2 emissions of at least two other people. Catching them will lead to the death if us all. Instead of just some of us.
Where everyone is a suspect and you're guilty unless proven innocent.
Well, it seems those really hard to solve crimes often involve corrupt law enforcers perhaps start the DNA search there ;D?
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
given the nature of our justice system. Very few cases go all the way to trial. Most of the time the prosecutors can get a plea deal with the threat of long jail time (take a 20 year sentence instead of life since you know the jury's likely to convict).
It doesn't help that juries are overly emotional. I've been on a jury where a women said, no joke, "We can't allow our personal feelings to sway our ruling and we need to get this guy off the streets". She didn't even pause for breath when she contradicted herself, which given her girth was impressive...
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I have always thought that submitting your information to those sites was kind of like submitting your information to sites like facebook and since I don't have a facebook account I won be using them either.
Any information you make available at large on the Internet may be used, not only to catch serial killer but for other reasons as well. It may also be used by serial killers to target you!
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Kin who put in for a DNA test as a fun hobby are going to find a lot of interesting people.
Undercover police who got into crime to keep a deep cover story. Who become corrupt.
Police informants who expected city and state police never to question their crimes as their information was so vital.
The use of military and special forces units to do police work. Wait for other nations to ask the USA for results.
The smart people doing DNA work don't know about any police deals done.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Those databases should not be available to law enforcement. We don't let law enforcement DNA test random or innocent people, why should they get access to these databases to go around the law?
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_fork_
how light bulbs make it easier to see things in the dark.
or dissedents
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I'd think it would be useful to submit some fake data but I'm sure of the legality of it. Probably legal if you submitted someone else's DNA with their approval as your own but beyond that who knows and that would pretty much be a one time thing that doesn't scale. If you don't care about laws, well then, the sky is the limit.
WTF... This shit is old news!
If I remember correctly there was a case in the news recently when the DNA for a number of cases pointed to a single perpetrator. Turns out the DNA was from the forensic analyst who collected the DNA samples, contaminated them and found his or her own DNA. Doubtful the analyst was indicted but not sure what happened to the DNA of the actual perps.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
The data itself could be very valuable - but it can also be badly misused.
I remember when prosecutors claimed that DNA evidence only had a 1 in 6 trillion chance of being wrong. A statement that is wildly wrong for a great many reasons - not the least of which is that crime labs make mistakes far more often than that.
Using genealogy databases that you could have a positive feedback of investigating a related group of people more often, resulting in more convictions, resulting in more investigations. Similar to the way bias can sneak into any justice system.
Since in most cases I assume the suspects DNA would be tested - it may be possible to avoid the above failings, but I'm still uneasy about possible misuse.
I wonder if the germans have a word for scared shitless, yet simultaneously in awe and happiness at the karmatic overtones of this form of justice.
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Or maybe Paul Erds, whatever; the connections always leads back to one of them...
Nullius in verba
Do not send your DNA data to anyone, never! No matter what they promise to you in exchange.
Didn't Slashdot report on this when it happened?
So it's virtually impossible to stop law enforcement without a separate law. What's happening is that people's relatives are putting their DNA in the database an then that's being used to narrow down the search for the culprits. In theory that's not so bad, but you're right that in practice there's a lot of room for abuse.
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if you can use the threat of life in jail to get that ex-boyfriend to take a 5 year plea deal then sure, it works that way. Not sure about the rest of the country but in the South and South West there's a lot of racism still, so it's terrifyingly easy to get a conviction. Sure, if the guy is well off he'll have a lawyer that'll shut down the circumstantial evidence but, well, the South & South West aren't well known for their well to do minority communities...
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Why haven't they used it to catch the Zodiak killer yet?
Tomorrow political dissidents and scapegoats