Ex-cop arrested in notorious 40 yr cold case of the "Golden State Killer"

I used to watch that "Cold Case Files" show that aired many hear say ago. I love stories like this. Very happy they caught him.

Those consumer DNA testing companies have in effect built up a data base of millions of people that police can access in cases like this one to identify suspects through relatives, maybe second or third cousins who have never met and live thousands of miles apart on different continents.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/26/golden-state-killer-dna-genealogy-websites
http://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread...-DNA-Testing&p=6025773&viewfull=1#post6025773

If they have autosomal DNA raw data of a suspect, they can simply create their own profile for him (or her) on the sites that allow this. I believe 23andMe and AncestryDNA, the two largest companies, require an actual saliva sample, but the other major companies who want to build up the size of their own data base to provide more potential matches for their customers, allow you to join by uploading raw data you can transfer from the other companies. There are also other websites that do not do their own testing, but allow raw data to be uploaded (from any company, including Ancestry and 23andMe), to find the names of DNA relatives, and one of these, GEDmatch, was used by the police in this case. Since the police were only using GEDmatch like every other customer and getting only the names of DNA relatives, and not asking GEDmatch for anyone's specific DNA data (the A-C-G-T sequencing), they were not required to obtain a warrant or inform GEDmatch that a police investigation was being conducted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/...ing-law-enforcement-in-east-area-rapist-case/

I’m glad they caught him. But it seems to me like a complete failure of law enforcement and detective work.
Should have caught him long time ago, before all those women were raped and/or killed.

Nice policing there, you guys.

Like, dont let a few decades get in the way of doing your pulliss work or anything

Hugh G. Rekshun said:

Those consumer DNA testing ...

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Pretty creative if the police sent a sample for commercial testing and used that to track down potential relatives. I would expect that if the killer has a good lawyer they will spend part of the trial trying to get the results thrown out.

Phil C. McNasty said:

Nice policing there, you guys.

Like, dont let a few decades get in the way of doing your pulliss work or anything

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How would you suggest that the police have investigated, mandatory DNA samples from the entire state?

basketcase said:

How would you suggest that the police have investigated, mandatory DNA samples from the entire state?

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Oh gee I dunno, like demand mandatory DNA samples or maybe??

Perhaps start that stuff at birth. That might help.
It wouldnt have caught this guy, but it sure as hell will catch the next one

basketcase said:

...I would expect that if the killer has a good lawyer they will spend part of the trial trying to get the results thrown out.

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I find it a little surprising that the police acknowledged using GEDmatch, when they likely did not have to say anything, and no one would have known about it. Releasing this type of detail about how the case was investigated may give the defense lawyers a chance to challenge or question it, when they would not have had that chance if they did not know about it. It may now also discourage some of the general public from using these consumer DNA testing and matching websites, if they are afraid of unknowingly helping police catch a relative.
But it may be possible that the police are confident that they have not done anything wrong.
http://www.technologyreview.com/s/6...oples-dna-to-find-golden-state-serial-killer/

Users uploading genetic data into the GEDMatch website currently have to click on a button saying that the DNA is theirs “or the DNA of a person for whom you are a legal guardian or have obtained authorization.” ...
Investigators, of course, didn't have authorization from DeAngelo to use his DNA. However, it seems likely they would not have needed it. “Under current constitutional law, the government has a tremendous amount of discretion in how to use crime-scene evidence,” says Erin Murphy, a professor of law at New York University. “DNA abandoned by the perpetrator of a crime basically has no legal protection.”

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Phil C. McNasty said:

Oh gee I dunno, like demand mandatory DNA samples or maybe??...

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Another Righty demanding the government impose more onto people's freedoms. Things like this and danmand quoting Pat Buchanan makes me think the world has flipped upside down.

Hugh G. Rekshun said:

I find it a little surprising that the police acknowledged using GEDmatch, when they likely did not have to say anything, and no one would have known about it. ...

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I believe the DA is required to disclose all the details of the investigation to the defendant anyway.

Phil C. McNasty said:

Nice policing there, you guys.

Like, dont let a few decades get in the way of doing your pulliss work or anything

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TFZL1 said:

I’m glad they caught him. But it seems to me like a complete failure of law enforcement and detective work.
Should have caught him long time ago, before all those women were raped and/or killed.

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I haven't read the details. What could police have done to resolve the case earlier? Note that we take a lot of scientific advances for granted. Modern DNA testing techniques didn't really exist within law enforcement until the 1980s. Before the modern era, murderers could afford to be sloppy, while today single hair fibers found at crime scenes could put them behind bars.

Phil C. McNasty said:

Oh gee I dunno, like demand mandatory DNA samples or maybe??

Perhaps start that stuff at birth. That might help.
It wouldnt have caught this guy, but it sure as hell will catch the next one

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Good idea. Since they aren't mandatory (nor are fingerprints) why don't you be the first to offer up yours to the Mounties? Or are you gonna wait until a law compels you?

Considering we couldn't bear the cost of registering even a few people's guns, just how do you propose to sell the cost of testing and registering the DNA of every single person in the country? Of course that would have to include every tourist too; do we collect before they board, or after they arrive? And do we hold them while we test and check the database? Or try to find them after we discover they're Wanted?

While you ponder all that, spare a thought for why we (including even totalitarian Commies and Nazis) never did anything similar with fingerprints, which we've used as a unique identifier for millennia, and as crime scene clues for over a century.