After decades of hunting, the Golden State Killer was finally apprehended in 2018, thanks to impeccable detective work and a piece of modern technology called 'genetic genealogy.' It then opened the door for more cold cases to be opened and more suspects identified.
Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are now turning to genetic genealogy to hunt down the many perpetrators that have evaded justice for decades. One of the cold cases that have been cracked due to modern tech is that of eight-year-old Kelly Prosser. A slew of these cases soon followed, reaching a number more than 150. Many were solved with the help of Parabon NanoLabs.
According to Parabon, it has helped identify violent criminals using genetic genealogy. Its team of experts develops genetic profiles of suspects to create a family tree, upload the data to a public genealogy database, and compile a list of people who share DNA with the suspect.
"It took perseverance to find him, to find that he even existed, and then identify him, and then, of course, our wonderful, wonder officers and investigators took that across the finish line," Parabon's Chief Genetic Genealogist, Cece Moore, said when asked about the Golden State Killer.
But Moore said that a suspect could not be convicted by the company's DNA evidence alone. She said that law enforcement has to take their data and build their own forensic case against the perpetrator.
Moore pointed out they would not be offering investigative genealogy if it were not for the Sacramento DA. Before the Golden State Killer case, Parabon had already offered its service to authorities. The company also offered the same to people searching for lost relatives.
However, there were concerns about the ethics of using the technology because DNA submitted for genetic testing. Back then, people were not aware that DNA submitted to trace family can also be used by law enforcement.
Genealogy databases have since changed policies. GEDmatch, for one, requires people to opt-in to share their DNA. The policy change caused a drop of sample submissions from over a million per day to a mere 260,000. But it should be noted that samples can lead people to justice, as with the case of the Golden State Killer.
Other genealogy databases are now working with the law as well. FamilyTreeDNA is one, which has helped increase the pool of matches. Other popular ones like Ancestry and MyHeritage said they do not allow law enforcement access.
