{"id":624932,"date":"2024-06-20T18:46:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/this-cop-is-cracking-cold-cases-with-dna\/"},"modified":"2024-06-20T18:46:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:46:17","slug":"this-cop-is-cracking-cold-cases-with-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/this-cop-is-cracking-cold-cases-with-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"#This Cop is Cracking Cold Cases With DNA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"wp-block\">\n<div class=\"header-default ad-free-zone\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-full w-full laptop:px-20 pt-40 max-w-[600px] laptop:max-w-[945px]\">\n<div class=\"max-w-full  aspect-[945_\/_630] laptop:h-[630px]\"><img alt=\"SS-15\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1000\" height=\"700\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"(max-width:768px) 100vw,945px\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2FSS-15.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Toronto Police Service detective Steve Smith is working on about 70 cold cases\u2014using DNA databases<!-- --> <span class=\"all-small-caps text-grey\">photographs courtesy of toronto police service<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"max-w-[640px] laptop:max-w-[600px] mx-auto px-20 laptop:px-0 py-20 laptop:py-20\">How genetic genealogy is solving murders from decades past<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"author __wrap__TnbXD\">Rosemary Counter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"max-w-[640px] mx-auto py-20 px-20\">\n<div class=\"mb-8 flex gap-6\">\n<div class=\"relative inline-block\"><button aria-label=\"Share this article\" class=\"rounded-xl border border-grey-light px-12 py-6 hover:bg-grey-lighter transition-colors\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\"><g clip-path=\"url(#share_svg__a)\"><path stroke=\"#121212\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" d=\"M2.419 15.525c1.286-1.37 4.661-4.275 9.458-4.275V15l6.25-6.25-6.25-6.25v3.75c-4.125 0-9.413 3.941-10 9.027a.313.313 0 0 0 .542.248\"\/><\/g><defs><clippath id=\"share_svg__a\"><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M0 0h20v20H0z\"\/><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"fixed laptop:absolute max-laptop:bottom-0 laptop:top-[calc(100%+20px)] left-0 right-0 laptop:right-auto w-full laptop:w-[190px] p-20 rounded-lg bg-white font-sans shadow-[0px_0px_10px_rgba(0,0,0,0.15)] invisible\">\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Copy Link<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Email<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span><a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a><\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>X<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Whats<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a><\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"border-b border-b-grey-light text-dark last:border-b-0 group\"><button class=\"flex items-center gap-10 py-7 group-last:pb-0 w-full font-light group\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"uppercase text-xs leading-normal font-sans text-grey font-lightmedium\">June 20, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><strong>The rise of consumer genealogy<\/strong> websites\u2014think Ancestry.ca or 23andMe.com\u2014has created a surprising new industry: investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG. That\u2019s when databases of DNA samples from regular citizens are used alongside genetic evidence from cold-case files to solve seemingly unsolvable crimes from decades past. Leading the exciting new field is Toronto Police Service Detective Sergeant Steve Smith, who\u2019s spent the last five years becoming a genetic genealogy expert, thanks to a $1.5-million grant from the provincial government in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">Recently, Smith\u2019s team used IGG to identify and arrest the suspect of two 1983 murders in Toronto. The Niagara Regional Police Service also used the tech to locate a suspect in the 1999 murder of a 26-year-old Torontonian. Here, Smith talks about how cold cases became his passion, new developments in the rapidly evolving field, how much it costs to solve a cold case and, of the 70 or so files he\u2019s currently working on, the one he\u2019d most like to solve.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>You have the absolute coolest job. How did you land there?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">I was working in bank robberies when I was brought to homicide on a special project. After, I started working on some cold cases, and the unit commander asked if I\u2019d be interested in taking on cold cases full-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">Around 2019, I went to the Canadian Police College for the first ever Unsolved Historical Homicide course. They brought in the investigators who found the Golden State Killer from Southern California, using DNA evidence they uploaded to GEDmatch. Even though the course was really technical and I didn\u2019t know what they were talking about, I was hooked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Can you explain the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> to me in layman\u2019s terms?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">When we recover DNA from a crime scene, we send it to the Centre of Forensic <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science<\/a> to create an STR, or short tandem repeat, a DNA profile. This is basically the profile you\u2019d take to court, with 21 DNA markers. STRs give you unknown male or female profiles. We upload them to our national database but often have no hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">This is where investigative genetic genealogy comes in. From there, we take a sample of the STR extraction and send it to a private lab in the U.S. They put it into a fancy DNA-sequencing machine which generates what\u2019s called an SNP, or a single nucleotide polymorphism. If done well, this profile has hundreds of thousands or even millions of DNA markers\u2014the genes between your genes that show a person\u2019s skin colour, eye colour, hair colour, where their family is originally from.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Where do the genealogy sites come in?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">We can upload an SNP profile to sites like GEDmatch or FamilyTreeDNA, which both allow police involvement if users agree. Then we\u2019re up and running. We get a list of people on file who match with the offender\u2019s DNA. This could be anywhere between zero and a couple hundred. If we match with a close relative, you could finish a case in 24 hours. If it\u2019s fourth or fifth cousins, you\u2019re looking at six or eight months to solve the case. Our genealogists use open-source data to build the family tree back in time to find the most recent common ancestors and then work down toward the offender. When we\u2019ve narrowed our search down to one family of interest, then we\u2019re looking at more traditional police work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Which cases did you choose to get started with IGG and why did you choose them?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">We started with two cases where we thought IGG might be useful: the case of nine-year-old Christine Jessop, and the murders of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour. Both were high-profile murders of vulnerable people\u2014a small child, and two women who were alone in their own homes\u2014with good DNA samples on file from the offenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image __wrap__QxLwh alignwide\"><img alt=\"1983-30\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width:640px) 100vw,(max-width:1024px) 100vw,100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F06%2F1983-30.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Spoiler alert: You solved both of these. Tell me about one of them?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">For the Christine Jessop case, we sent the DNA sample for an SNP and uploaded it to GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA. We were lucky to get one match on the paternal side and another on the maternal side; both of the families had immigrated from the U.K. to the Belleville area. From there, we narrowed it down to two families in Ontario. We identified the offender, but he\u2019d since died by suicide. It\u2019s great to have finally identified him and give the family some closure, but it\u2019s hard to know that he never had to stand trial for the crimes he committed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">The cost-benefit analysis is unbelievable. Think about what it would cost for one or two investigators to work on a case for 40 years. That\u2019s well into the millions of dollars. Each one of these IGG cases costs us about US$8,000 and a few months of investigative time. We can usually solve a case for under $50,000, which includes all the officers, genealogists and testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>You got a $1.5-million grant two years ago. Is that enough?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">The grant was amazing, but we really need consistent funding. Without it, we won\u2019t be able to continue to employ genealogists. This is the biggest hurdle for us right now. And the fact that we can only use two of the genealogy sites and neither of the big ones, Ancestry.ca and 23andMe.com, which in total have over 40 million DNA profiles. We can\u2019t use anyone\u2019s DNA without their authorization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Unless someone\u2019s a serial killer, why wouldn\u2019t they agree? Should Ancestry and 23andMe change their terms of service?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">I think so, but lots of people disagree with me, citing privacy, which was built into these sites\u2019 terms of service before we knew anything about IGG. We recently went in front of the Senate asking to expand our DNA database. We were asking for much less than many countries: just DNA upon conviction of an offence and limited familial testing. Both were voted down\u2014unfortunately, if you ask me. Ninety-nine per cent of the population would call the police if they knew someone in their family had committed a violent crime. To me, this is just like using your genetics to call 911.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Is there any case in particular that you want to see solved?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\">All of them, really, but one that sticks out right now is the Margaret McDonald case. It happened in the Leaside area of Toronto in 1994. She was a lady in her 80s, living alone, who was taking a nap when somebody broke into her house. They found her upstairs, savagely assaulted her and then beat her to death in her own bed. It was a brutal attack, and the suspect left DNA all over the place. We figure the offender was pretty young at the time, late teens or early 20s, so he could still be walking around. I really hope we get him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"\"><strong>How can average people help out?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\" endstyle\">You can assist law enforcement by taking your Ancestry profile and upload it to either GEDmatch or FamilyTreeDNA. This is the biggest thing we\u2019re looking for from people. The more people we have, the better chance we have at catching offenders. If everybody on Ancestry uploaded their profile, we\u2019d be able to solve every cold case in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/society\/using-dna-to-solve-murders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto Police Service detective Steve Smith is working on about 70 cold cases\u2014using DNA databases photographs courtesy of toronto police service How genetic genealogy is solving murders from decades past Rosemary Counter Copy Link Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit June 20, 2024 The rise of consumer genealogy websites\u2014think Ancestry.ca or 23andMe.com\u2014has created a surprising&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":624933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cms.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/SS-15-1024x1024.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}