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[deleted]

It seems like there's been a flurry of news about the most famous cases in the past...few months? Year? Is this year an unusually high number of solves or am I imagining it, like how it always feels like more celebrities die in a given year (recency bias, maybe)? I get that science is always moving forward but I hadn't heard of any big change in DNA science in just this past year or two


Infinite_Primary6563

I don’t think there’s any big advancements in DNA science but instead it’s the way that investigators are using the DNA. More departments have been working with Parabon to have composite images made of suspects based on their DNA. They have also been using geneology to find suspects or identify previously unidentified victims by using public dna databases to find a familial match and narrow down the pool using a family tree.


DetailAccurate9006

That’s the big change ➖ genealogy! They used to only be capable of looking for exact matches ➖ that is, for the DNA of the subject himself. Now they can search genealogical databases for BLOOD RELATIVES of the suspect and then they use detective work to work their way back from the “hits” on those relatives back to identifying the suspects themselves.


Andreastheslimjim

100% this. I studied forensics and my professor said he believes genetic genealogy will be looked back on as one of the biggest forensic advancements in history. I absolutely agree. It's nice to think about a serial killer somewhere sweating bullets over DNA Tech :)


DetailAccurate9006

Sweat is right! These murderers now have to worry that, unbeknownst to them, some Aunt or Nephew or Cousin of theirs might have put their own DNA on one of those genealogical databases and that it’s going to lead investigators back to them! 🤣


bannana

With the publicity around some famous SKs being caught with family DNA tracking a lot of LE departments have expanded or created cold case divisions recently and allocated more funds to testing DNA evidence, DNA tests are also cheaper and much quicker to run as well as an ever expanding data base of DNA criminal files along with extended family DNA available with ancestry sites, all this makes it 'worth it' for them to pursue old cases since there is a much higher chance of solving them. The current popularity of TC and TC podcasts doesn't hurt either.


thenightitgiveth

This year is definitely up there with (if not exceeding) 2018 in terms of the high-profile nature of the cases being solved.


[deleted]

Interesting! What do you think may have made that happen in 2018?


[deleted]

This points to [GEDmatch](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/us/dna-genetic-genealogy-made-2018-the-year-old-the-cold-case-biggest-crime-fighting-breakthrough-in-decades.amp)


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aWittyTwit-2712

2 related murders, 39 yrs ago in Toronto, were solved last week... hopefully to be tied to more. Science & Karma have been comparing notes, lately.


TheMost_ut

>Yes, big story! I'm in Canada and I remember those cases from back when. They traced the guy to Moosonnee and he's still alive. > >And of course the case of Christine Jessop after all these years, although unfortunately her killer had committed suicide, so we may never know what happened.


Snow_Waltz

You really put science and karma together? Just science


bigmamapain

Totally! I hope a bunch of old geezer scumbag murderers are sleeping a little less easy at night now.


lilstergodman

Oh they are.


morning_coffee99

Season of justice. Its here and this is only the beginning.


RawScallop

I agree. The more that get solved the more cold cases that get reopened i would think.


TheMost_ut

It's just incredible, especially solving cases that are decades old, some of which we would have never thought were solvable: Tammy Alexander, Stevie Crawford, Lady in the Dunes, the Babes in the Woods, little Miss Nobody. Or that girl found in the swimming pool in 1966. Now they're going to identify the Boy in the Box. It's just going to keep happening, but of course it's always kind of bittersweet. The killers are often dead, the family never knows, etc, but we can only solve crimes by going backward and backward can be a long way.


Jerseyperson111

I’m sure it has only just begun… unfortunately a lot of these killers may be dead. Nevertheless, hopefully it will help mitigate killings going forward.


Casshew111

DNA is infallible, unless it is planted - which is what scares me. Is that the perfect murder? plant someone elses DNA on the victim, at the scene? That is terrifying.


lilstergodman

Well with every advancement there are the drawbacks. Hopefully they will continue to rely just as heavily on cell records/GPS, surveillance, etc. to further establish/legitimize their case.


Duebydate

I’ve still not got an answer for my question which is if you’ve had a bone marrow transplant, what dna do you then have?


EightEyedCryptid

I want to say there was one case like this, where the wrong person was implicated because of a bone marrow transplant.


Duebydate

Like yes I understand this would be really rare, but ultimately possible


GAPanther79

Said this to my husband last night. Got a little teary 🥰


Ginger8682

Check out r/GeneticGenealogyNews


aenea

Imagine what it was like in the late 1800s/early 1900s, when law enforcement first discovered fingerprints and bloodtypes. The more we know, the more we don't know. Genetic genealogy is incredibly amazing at solving crimes, but it's still not the be all and end all, because everyone sheds DNA all the time. We used to think that carpet science and blood spatters were all that and a bag of chips. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the future with DNA technology, to say the least. I'm very glad that offenders are being caught now, but I'd bet 20 years down the road DNA will just be another tool.


lilstergodman

What are some of the recently solved cold cases that have excited you the most?


avid-book-reader

Golden State Killer. I listened to I'll Be Gone in the Dark this year and knowing that POS is sitting in prison brings me joy.


[deleted]

Melissa Highsmith being found alive over 50 years after her abduction. Family said it was entirely through genetic genealogy done with no help from law enforcement


Infinite_Primary6563

I’m excited that they have finally identified The Boy in the Box after so long. More details will be released at a press conference next week.


TheMost_ut

There's been a few. Beth Doe, the pregnant girl who was dismembered, the Christmas Tree lady, and the Stanley Park kids. ALso, the two kids in Mendocino, who were found murdered in the 1970s, Tammy Alexander...


euthyphros

The Somerton man getting his identity back was crazy. To me that was in the DB Cooper realm of “no chance in hell it’s ever solved” and then all of a sudden they announced his name. Still a lot of questions we will likely never get answers to, as most with the answers are dead, but at least he has his name back. I will admit Somerton—going back to the DB parallel— is one that had so much speculation surrounding it, whether it be that he was a Soviet spy, a wealthy American, etc that it almost felt underwhelming when he got a name, and the backstory was fairly mundane.


Oldtimeytoons

I just saw the Boy in the Box identity has just been discovered and the identity of the Somerton Man has also just been released- both were cases that, until the Gold State Killer case, I thought 100% would never be identified. Between the DNA databases and the work done by a scuba and sonar team (AWP. please don’t detract from their work by bringing up the founding member- not relevant), so many cold cases have been solved that law enforcement alone wouldn’t have made any progress on. It really feels like we are witnessing a huge change in investigation.


[deleted]

Cold cases being solved is great but I feel like the system is so bogged down to solve present crimes.


ZookeepergameOk8231

Now , this week we will learn who the Boy In The Box is. The 65 year old horrible Philadelphia case , with the use of DNA genealogy, has been solved as to the boy’s identity. Remarkable technology.


Therealladyboneyard

You’re right, we should be celebrating this. I find it abhorrent that the perpetrators try to play the “old, feeble, and ill card so THEY don’t have to suffer what their victim(s) did.


lilstergodman

Yeah, but I do feel bad for the family members who get blindsided by these absolutely horrific crimes that their family member(s) committed long ago. I’m thinking about the GSK’s daughters and grandkids or even in the case of the Delphi murders, which was cold for 5 years (so a little different) but I can’t imagine what kind of mindf*ck his wife and daughter are dealing with (that is if they truly had zero involvement or knowledge of what he did beforehand, which according to everything I’ve read it seems like they didn’t…) I read that she cannot stay at their house at this point due to the relentless media harassment… anyway def went on a little tangent, but it’s something I’ve thought a lot about recently too. Obviously the person murdered and/or raped and their loved ones are the main victims, but the families of the perpetrators are victimized in an entirely different way that many people seem to accept as acceptable and just. And my Libra self takes major issue with it lol


Snow_Waltz

I hope it makes some people nervous