A 25 year old unsolved murder is solved when DNA from the victim is matched against the public genealogy database. Apparently a relative of the perpetrator took one of the popular DNA tests, the results of which are compiled in a database accessible to law enforcement. It puts an interesting twist on privacy concerns. Your DNA may not be public but if the relative takes a test it may as well be...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigators-solve-cold-case-alaska-teen-who-was-raped-murdered-n1236480

Edit: happy ending, the perp blew his brains out after being questioned by police.

There's a show on ABC that ran for half a dozen episodes or so an ABC this summer called "The Genetic Detective" that's about genealogy and DNA databases being used to solve cold cases. It's absolutely fascinating.
See if you can get them on demand. Worth the watch.

This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

Perp leaves his DNA at a crime scene/in a victim? Too bad. There's no privacy concern here.

Yelnick McWawa said:

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There's a show on ABC that ran for half a dozen episodes or so an ABC this summer called "The Genetic Detective" that's about genealogy and DNA databases being used to solve cold cases. It's absolutely fascinating.
See if you can get them on demand. Worth the watch.

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This. She uses the databases to connect DNA that is not in the justice system to a family tree. It is pretty crazy how she is able to build it out.

My father was adopted in a closed adoption in the 1950s. He had no idea who his birth parents were. Through ancestry first cousin matches and digitized phone book records + historical newspaper records in his home town I was able to figure it out.

They had both since passed, but it brought a sense of relief to my AARP father to be able to answer that question about himself.

There was a miniseries on HBO recently called "I'll be gone in the dark" about how the Golden State Killer was caught using genealogy sites. Was fascinating to see the development of the case.

redd38 said:

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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They use a public database called GEDmatch that you can volunteer to donate your DNA to for genetic research. There's far fewer people in the database than there are on the commercial ones. What they do is create a fake profile and upload the DNA of the suspect and see what matches. Then they work backwards through death/birth records to try to find a match based on the suspect's profile. Once they identify a suspect, then they have to surreptitiously obtain a DNA sample from them to see if it matches the DNA from the crime scene.

caddy said:

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There was a miniseries on HBO recently called "I'll be gone in the dark" about how the Golden State Killer was caught using genealogy sites. Was fascinating to see the development of the case.

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It was OK, but it was 50% about Michelle McNamera (via Patton Oswalt) and 50% about the GSK. I didnt like that...and I am a HUGE fan of true crime documentaries and things in this genre.

I felt like there were 20-30 minute stretches in some episodes where it didnt talk about the Golden State Killer at all. It really impacted the pacing.

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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What up gangsta?

Yelnick McWawa said:

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There's a show on ABC that ran for half a dozen episodes or so an ABC this summer called "The Genetic Detective" that's about genealogy and DNA databases being used to solve cold cases. It's absolutely fascinating.
See if you can get them on demand. Worth the watch.

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Is this the one? The Genetic Detective

Moxley said:

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then they have to surreptitiously obtain a DNA sample from them to see if it matches the DNA from the crime scene.

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We talking Operation: Gloryhole?

redd38 said:

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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My conspiracy side thinks that if you've had a COVID test it's already too late

One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

Side note in that story of yet another person coming forward trying to take the blame for a crime they did not commit.

So odd

itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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How dumb are you? Do you realize she could say you're the father and come after you? For child support

itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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Dude---- are you serious? That's almost as reckless as selling your gun to a meth head and not documenting it.

My wife's 68 year old Uncle that is married with 5 adult children just got a shocker when a 30 year old woman messaged one of his daughters on Facebook telling her 23andMe says she is her sister. Turns out the woman's mother that passed away a decade ago was once a bartender at a dive bar the Uncle frequented. The Uncle didnt put his DNA on the site his daughter did and now the whole family is turned upside down over it.

No one wants to see a murderer go free, but there are serious privacy concerns for me.

You only hear about the cases solved. Generally they are not a direct match, but a partial match between distant cousins who may not even know each other. Detectives comb through extensive family trees to look for possible suspects, sometimes going back as far as the 1800s.

There have been cases of innocent people hounded because they were a tiny partial match and fit a profile. You don't hear about those people.

bonfarr said:

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My wife's 68 year old Uncle that is married with 5 adult children just got a shocker when a 30 year old woman messaged one of his daughters on Facebook telling her 23andMe says she is her sister. Turns out the woman's mother that passed away a decade ago was once a bartender at a dive bar the Uncle frequented. The Uncle didnt put his DNA on the site his daughter did and now the whole family is turned upside down over it.

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People need to think about that before reaching out.

All A&M said:

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redd38 said:

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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Sorry to break it to you but they solved the Golden State killer case with only a 3rd cousin match. The likelihood none of your 3rd cousins (or closer relatives) have taken a DNA test is close to zero.

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problem is...if they have a close relative's dna then they may as well have yours...ie if your dna's not in the public domain and your sibling's is...and you commit a crime & leave dna evidence behind...they're gonna identify your sibling. that will lead them close enough to you to get you.

itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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Completely confused on how this would keep the contractors wife from finding out?

Doesn't the side piece know who she slept with?

Does not compute

redd38 said:

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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it doesn't matter if u do. if u have relatives who did u might as well have.

itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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For what purpose?

So if the child is put up for adoption, and he researches his father, he is going to come to you?

What will your wife think?

Did you think this through?

NM. I reread his post and that is an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.

aggiez03 said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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For what purpose?

So if the child is put up for adoption, and he researches his father, he is going to come to you?

What will your wife think?

Did you think this through?

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You tell the wife it's bullcrap and take a new paternity test that proves you are not the father?

He can handle his wife with that story, but a lawyer representing side piece in a paternity suit is probably going to want to know how his name got on the DNA specimen and I don't think "IDK" is going to be a sufficient answer.

All A&M said:

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redd38 said:

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This is why I won't do one of those genealogy things. I don't want my DNA out there snitching on my people.

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Sorry to break it to you but they solved the Golden State killer case with only a 3rd cousin match. The likelihood none of your 3rd cousins (or closer relatives) have taken a DNA test is close to zero.

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I kinda freaked out on my folks when they did the 23 & me test just to find out they are both white.

My mom started crying after I told her she might've just put one of her future great grand kids in the electric chair.

Scariest thing about giving up your dna is that as soon as insurance companies are allowed to refuse to insure for pre-existing they will start kicking out people whose genes show a higher risk of genetic diseases.

It is shocking, amazing, and profoundly stupid to give away your dna, yet thousands every day pay someone to have their single most important piece of personal information.

Between your cell phone (all of your socio-economic makeup) and your dna (all of your physical makeup), companies will literally know every single thing about you. Every single thing. What else do you have left?

itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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We can make the DNA data bases useless by mixing our DNA together and swapping DNA samples. If enough people do this, that data will be recognized as unreliable and useless. Genius.

aggiez03 said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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For what purpose?

So if the child is put up for adoption, and he researches his father, he is going to come to you?

What will your wife think?

Did you think this through?

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This sounds like the plot of a Coen Brothers movie. And the twist is that pookie's character has slept with the same side piece, so after she humorously dies, he ends up stuck raising the kid due to the paternity test. All the while, the contractor who was shady enough to knock up his side piece and use false DNA, leaves pookie high and dry and penniless after screwing him over in a business deal.

Also, I am betting that they're going to ask your contractor friend (accomplice?) for a new DNA test btw if they try to prove paternity for child support. They're not going to check a database

bonfarr said:

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aggiez03 said:

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itsyourboypookie said:

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One of my contractors knocked up his side piece. So he swabbed his DNA but I put my name on it so his wife wouldn't find out.

So I'm in a DNA database.

With someone else's DNA

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For what purpose?

So if the child is put up for adoption, and he researches his father, he is going to come to you?

What will your wife think?

Did you think this through?

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You tell the wife it's bullcrap and take a new paternity test that proves you are not the father?

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Trust is already broken...

Then you tell the wife the truth about the contractor and not only does she not trust you she's sure you're a complete idiot and regrets marrying you if she doesn't already. lose lose situation. Does not compute.