Author: Tina Hesman Saey / Source: Science News
This is part of the Transparency Project. Learn more about the project here. This article refers to a story originally published in April 2018, “New genetic sleuthing tools helped track down the Golden State Killer suspect.”
I was in the midst of writing a series on consumer DNA testing when news broke that police had arrested a suspect in the Golden State Killer case. Investigators had reportedly used an ancestry database to track the man down, and speculation was that either AncestryDNA or 23andMe, two popular direct-to-consumer testing companies, had turned over customer data to the police. Both companies denied involvement.
Because I was deep into do-it-yourself DNA analysis at that point, I knew about a genealogy site called GEDMatch. There, people can upload raw DNA data from one company to find relatives that tested with different companies. Police confirmed to the Sacramento Bee that they had used the site in the investigation.
But I also knew that the type of DNA police usually collect doesn’t match the type of data generated by DNA testing companies. I wanted to know the science behind the investigation.
Here’s how…
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