ISTOCK, STEVANOVICIGOR An online DNA and genealogical database has helped investigators solve a decades-old cold case—the identity the “Golden State Killer,” who killed 12 people and raped 51 others between 1974 and 1986, The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday (April 26).
Investigators made a partial DNA match between an unidentified relative of Joseph James DeAngelo from a genealogy website and DNA taken from a crime scene linked with the case. The police then went to DeAngelo’s home and obtained a fresh DNA sample from something he discarded. The sample matched evidence from a series of past crimes, leading to DeAngelo’s arrest.
In the case, the lead investigator Paul Holes tells The Mercury News, his team used GEDmatch, a site based in Florida that collects publically shared genetic profiles of people. Users “upload raw genetic data in the form of endless A’s and C’s and G’s and T’s—a process that hypothetically could have allowed investigators to get the information they needed without getting cooperation from companies,” according ...
