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It seems almost every day we read about some cold case being solved by DNA evidence. Sometimes the evidence was collected before the advent of DNA technology. Other times evidence which yielded nothing to older DNA testing has now been retested with newer DNA technology and has identified the criminal. Recently Jon Benet Ramsey's family was exhonerated when newer DNA technology found an unknown person's DNA on her clothing.
With reference to JTR we have often discussed DNA evidence but have always come up against a brick wall. Nobody was swabbing cheeks and creating databases in 1888. Even if we could exhume a victim and by some miracle find a single cell from JTR still clinging to her body, there would be nothing to compare it to.
But what about familial DNA? If a sample could be obtained from one of the victims would JTR's descendents or relatives pop up in a modern database? Familial DNA was used to catch Dennis Rader. This morning I read that DNA databases are now being used to predict the surname of an offender with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
With reference to JTR we have often discussed DNA evidence but have always come up against a brick wall. Nobody was swabbing cheeks and creating databases in 1888. Even if we could exhume a victim and by some miracle find a single cell from JTR still clinging to her body, there would be nothing to compare it to.
But what about familial DNA? If a sample could be obtained from one of the victims would JTR's descendents or relatives pop up in a modern database? Familial DNA was used to catch Dennis Rader. This morning I read that DNA databases are now being used to predict the surname of an offender with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
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