Caes solved by genetic DNA

[CA4Now]

(09-21-2018, 11:44 AM)Dave Wrote: I tried to see if I could find out how the profile was developed for the Golden State Killer, but the few articles I read did not disclose how that was done.  My guess is the same as yours: Such cases probably need more material to create new profiles.  PCR can help with that as long as everyone is careful.   With the profiling that they've done already on the JonBenet Ramsey case, it's possible that they could identify some groups of relatives.  These groups may be really large, though.

What they did with genetic material to identify the Golden State Killer sounds really complicated.  I wish I understood all this better.  It also sounds more expensive and time consuming than most cases would allow.  

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gold...-genealogy

[Dave]

(09-21-2018, 06:42 PM)CA4Now Wrote: What they did with genetic material to identify the Golden State Killer sounds really complicated.  I wish I understood all this better.  It also sounds more expensive and time consuming than most cases would allow.  

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gold...-genealogy

Hi CA4Now,

That article actually does not describe how it was done for the Golden State Killer; it describes speculation about what may have been done.  From that article: "Police haven’t yet publicly detailed the methods that led them to DeAngelo."

Dave

[CA4Now]

A 25 year old case has recently been solved:

"Police recovered the suspect’s DNA from Sergie’s body. At the time, the district court filing said, DNA processing technology had not been introduced in Alaska. A DNA profile confirming the suspect as male was uploaded in 2000, but it did not match anyone in the FBI’s database.

The case went dormant for years. In 2010, a cold case investigator sought to re-interview everyone who lived at Bartlett Hall....

The case spiraled back into an unsolved mystery.

Then the alleged “Golden State Killer” was captured.

In the years since Sergie’s slaying, DNA public databases emerged as potent investigative tools. Until recently, DNA samples were passively checked against other records and produced matches only when two sets from the same person were linked.

A 25 year old case has recently been solved:

That helped authorities find “Golden State Killer” suspect Joseph James DeAngelo, accused of killing 12 people and raping 45 in California in the 1970s and ′80s.

The publicity of the feat, state troopers said, sparked the idea for investigators in the Sergie case. Why not try the same?

A forensic genealogist prepared a report on Dec. 18, comparing the suspect’s genetic material from the crime scene to likely relatives. A woman’s DNA profile emerged in the search.
Investigators found their link: She was an aunt of Downs’s."

A suspected killer eluded capture for 25 years.  Then investigators got his aunt's DNA:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-s...li=BBnb7Kz

[CA4Now]

Another case solved, this one from 1973, by DNA evidence.  An 11 year old girl, Linda Ann O'Keefe, had disappeared while walking home from summer school in Newport Beach, CA.  Her body was found nearby the following day.  

"....detectives still couldn’t put a name with the computer sketch. They had checked the DNA against databases of convicted felons over the years but continued to come up empty-handed.

That changed in January when investigators tapped FamilyTreeDNA.com, a genealogical database that the public can use to search for relatives and ancestors.


Private companies that provide ancestry searches from DNA samples submitted by paying participants usually also guarantee privacy for their users. However, customers are alerted to potential matches and can then use the service to connect with possible relatives.


“Anybody who uploads DNA thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll discover a long-lost relative,’ is running the risk that the DNA will be used in a police investigation,” said David Kaye, a lawyer and Pennsylvania State University professor who teaches the law of evidence and applications of forensic science.


“You also run the risk of finding out that one of your known relatives is a killer.”

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m...story.html

[CA4Now]

Is this DNA technology, "Phenotyping," available to be used with this crime?  It's being used to help solve the murder of a 10 year old that occurred 25 years ago in Tulare County, CA.  

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m...story.html

(video clip at end of article)