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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.
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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Where everyone is a suspect and you're guilty unless proven innocent.
It doesn't work that way. Even a DNA match alone is not enough to convict. There has to be corroborating evidence.
But if the DNA match flags 20 people, and 19 of them live in other states, and the other one is the murder victim's ex-boyfriend with a domestic violence restraining order on him, then he's goin' down.
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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