By David Peel
The latest in DNA technology can find suspects hiding in your family tree.
We are all familiar with DNA identification. It is, however, much newer than you might guess. In 1989, sixteen-year-old Fawn Cox was sexually assaulted and killed in her bed by someone who climbed in her window. All Kansas City detectives could do with the bodily fluids they collected at the time–just 34 years ago–was attempt to compare blood types.
There are only four major blood groups. These are determined by the presence or absence of two antigens, A and B, on the surface of red blood cells. In addition to the A and B antigens, there is a protein called the Rh factor, which can be either present (+) or absent (–), creating the 8 most common blood types (A+, A-, B+, B-, O+, O-, AB+, AB-). This can eliminate a suspect, but it does not do much else.
The case stayed cold for years, while the pace of technology heated up.
Then in the 2000s, KCPD Crime Lab scientists used emerging DNA technology to develop a suspect DNA profile from the bodily fluids that were collected and stored in 1989. They uploaded this to the national criminal justice DNA database (CODIS). There was no match. Even more years went by.
Then a new type of DNA identification was used to catch the Golden State serial killer in California: Genealogical DNA testing. It allows law enforcement to compare the profile of the unknown suspect’s DNA to other national databases DNA that has been submitted by consumers. If there is a partial hit—they can build a family tree of that indicated relative, thereby creating a small pool of suspects. It started as a fun way for genealogy enthusiasts to find new and distant family connections.
Today, a sample of saliva is all it takes for companies like GEDmatch to paint a detailed picture of family tree lines crisscrossing the world.
Using the genealogical DNA results, detectives narrowed in on a suspect, Fawn Cox’s cousin, who was about five years older than her.
That cousin passed away in 2006, but under suspicious circumstances. His death was later determined not to have been the result of foul play, but nonetheless, the medical examiner had investigated the death and retained a blood sample from the investigation.
Crime Lab staff extracted the DNA from that blood sample and compared it to the DNA profile from the bodily fluid recovered at the original crime scene in 1989. It was a match.
The crime was solved.
The list of solved crimes using DNA tech is growing and now reaches all the way back to the 1963 murder of Girl Scout, Peggy Beck, (Jefferson County, Colorado).
Peel seeks justice for those injured in tractor trailer and car accidents, medical malpractice, and disability. He often addresses churches, clubs and groups without charge. Peel may be reached through PeelLawFirm.com wherein other articles may be accessed.
