I’m happy they got the guy, but this is why people submitting their DNA to any lab should understand that it also reveals the DNA of all your blood relatives to some extent, not just yours and yours alone.
Not everyone would be pleased to find out they inadvertently got their child arrested for whatever crime even if it is ‘just’.
They don’t sell it, to my knowledge. That serial killer in CA was found because they submitted it the same way you or I would, and waited for the company to return familial matches.
Almost everyone would be good with it if the crime were murder or sone sex thing.
But like you point out, the data could be sold. It’s going to be in data leaks soon enough. And who knows what happens if the government you live under gets fascist.
They matched the guys own DNA to DNA he left at the crime scene. Did you eve read the article, or do you just need something to be outraged about today?
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on social media that his office’s sexual assault kit initiative funded forensic genetic genealogy testing that “narrowed the list of suspects.”
Thanks. Not only that but did I sound outraged? People should know to check with all their direct blood relatives and get their approval before submitting potential evidence to 23AndMe or similar to avoid potential family friction/crises. That’s all.
I don’t get that—they got eleven matches in their database, which presumably only covers a fraction of the whole population. So there are potentially tens or hundreds of people out there who could match, most of which they don’t even know. And the article doesn’t really say how they narrowed down the list to him in particular, especially since he’s not even from the same state.
Easy. You have 11. Eliminate the women because they would know it’s male based on DNA. Now we’re at 6. 4 were verifiably in different states at the time of the crime. 2 left. Stake them out for a bit and gather some garbage likely to have DNA. 1 sample is a perfect match.
Alternatively, those last 2 sample could both not match and then they just continue their investigation.
But my point is, those original eleven weren’t an exhaustive list of the possibilities, just the ones that happened to be in their database—so narrowing it down to one means nothing.
That’s not how DNA works. It’s not like a vague description of a person so they round up a bunch of perps for a line up. They would get an exact match on DNA before arresting someone.
It wasn’t a direct match. It partially matched to 11 people so they did follow-up investigative work on the 11 matches looking for anyone in their families that stood out as a likely suspect due to things like work proximity, lifestyle, criminal record, familiarity with the victim and so on.
I’m happy they got the guy, but this is why people submitting their DNA to any lab should understand that it also reveals the DNA of all your blood relatives to some extent, not just yours and yours alone.
Not everyone would be pleased to find out they inadvertently got their child arrested for whatever crime even if it is ‘just’.
I’d be cool with it if it was murder. That being said fuck these companies selling data to police and insurance companies
They don’t sell it, to my knowledge. That serial killer in CA was found because they submitted it the same way you or I would, and waited for the company to return familial matches.
Almost everyone would be good with it if the crime were murder or sone sex thing.
But like you point out, the data could be sold. It’s going to be in data leaks soon enough. And who knows what happens if the government you live under gets fascist.
I’m a twin. I do not have exclusive license over my DNA, and also I fear I’m gonna get picked-up for some crime he committed 20 years ago.
Sounds like you have a permanent excuse for beyond reasonable doubt
I’d be out committing crimes. 🤷♂️
They matched the guys own DNA to DNA he left at the crime scene. Did you eve read the article, or do you just need something to be outraged about today?
so…
Thanks. Not only that but did I sound outraged? People should know to check with all their direct blood relatives and get their approval before submitting potential evidence to 23AndMe or similar to avoid potential family friction/crises. That’s all.
You didn’t sound outraged.
I’m guessing projecting.
I don’t get that—they got eleven matches in their database, which presumably only covers a fraction of the whole population. So there are potentially tens or hundreds of people out there who could match, most of which they don’t even know. And the article doesn’t really say how they narrowed down the list to him in particular, especially since he’s not even from the same state.
Easy. You have 11. Eliminate the women because they would know it’s male based on DNA. Now we’re at 6. 4 were verifiably in different states at the time of the crime. 2 left. Stake them out for a bit and gather some garbage likely to have DNA. 1 sample is a perfect match.
Alternatively, those last 2 sample could both not match and then they just continue their investigation.
But my point is, those original eleven weren’t an exhaustive list of the possibilities, just the ones that happened to be in their database—so narrowing it down to one means nothing.
That’s not how DNA works. It’s not like a vague description of a person so they round up a bunch of perps for a line up. They would get an exact match on DNA before arresting someone.
It wasn’t a direct match. It partially matched to 11 people so they did follow-up investigative work on the 11 matches looking for anyone in their families that stood out as a likely suspect due to things like work proximity, lifestyle, criminal record, familiarity with the victim and so on.