Your DNA has already been entered into all databases

[Tomcat]

I want to start this post with a story that began half a century ago in Visalia, California, where one of the most daring and dangerous criminals of that time began his criminal career. At first, he broke into houses and stole small valuables, cash, jewelry. In total, between 1976 and 1979, he committed more than 100 burglaries. The police were powerless, the perpetrator hid his face, and the descriptions compiled by the witnesses were useless.

During this period, the criminal traveled throughout Northern California and, getting a taste, added rape to thefts, terrorizing the local population. Local television regularly broadcast recommendations to lock the doors, as the perpetrator may still be nearby.

In 1979, he moves to southern California and adds murder to his track record. He is responsible for at least 13 murders and more than 50 episodes of sexual violence.

Investigators, based on the so-called. modus operandi (mode of action) of the criminal, came to the conclusion that all these crimes were committed by the same person. He went to the crime in a mask. He broke into the house and, threatening with a pistol, usually tied the man up, ordered him to lie down and not move. Then he put the plates on the victim's back and said that if he heard the clinking of the plates, he would kill all the inhabitants of the house. After that, he dragged the woman into the next room and raped her, after which, without haste, he went around all the premises, collecting valuables, sometimes even delayed to have a snack in the kitchen, and then left. In some cases, however, he still killed his victims.

Description of the offender

Despite the large number of criminal episodes, the offender did not leave any special leads that could help in his capture. He did not leave fingerprints either, since he was wearing gloves all the time. He had several nicknames: Original Night Stalker, East Area Rapist, Visalia Ransacker, but the most famous became The Golden State Killer.

The series of these crimes stopped only 10 years after its start, in 1986. The perpetrator would never have been caught if it hadn't been for the persistence of investigator Paul Holes.

Paul Hawles in his youth

He hunted down a criminal for decades and ultimately succeeded in his efforts. But first things first.

In 1990, the FBI began work on what would become the National Genetic Database. It contains the data of the DNA profiles of persons convicted of any crimes. Each of our cells has 23 pairs of chromosomes, some of which we receive from our mother, and the other from our father. In certain places on these chromosomes, there are short repeating patterns from chains of nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T), and cytosine (C). Such sequences (short tandem repeats or microsatellites) are unique for each person, the principle of identification by DNA is based on this, since the chance that two different people have the same number of such repeats is vanishingly small.

The FBI database now has about 18 million such profiles. It also contained the genetic profile of the "Assassin of the Golden State", since the method of identifying a person by DNA was first used in 1986 (and it is most likely no coincidence that the criminal ended his "career" at this time) ...

However, even with the killer's genetic profile, the investigators still did not have the slightest idea of his identity, since in order to find him, it was necessary to compare the existing profile with those that had already been entered into the database. Howles even made inquiries to Interpol in the hope that the perpetrator could have inherited in other countries, but it was all to no avail.

What the criminal could not count on was how quickly research in the field of genetics would begin to develop. In 2003, after "only" 13 years of research, the human genome was completely deciphered , and many private laboratories began to offer genetic profiling on a commercial basis as a service that turned out to be in great demand among a certain part of people (for example, to establish paternity and, in general, family ties). First, dozens, then hundreds, then millions of people began to donate their genetic material for analysis.

And so, already at the beginning of 2000, the investigation had the hope of finally exposing the elusive killer, because there was a great chance that at least one of his relatives, albeit distant ones, used the services of such companies as FamilyFinder, 23andMe or Ancestry. By identifying relatives, it would be possible to significantly narrow the circle of suspects, and by establishing their movements and locations at the time of the commission of crimes, it would be possible to calculate the perpetrator.

However, the answer was behind closed doors of corporate ethics. Companies were in no hurry to part with their clients' secrets. Law enforcement agencies did not have access to the multimillion-dollar databases of these corporations. The investigation was helped by another independent website called GEDmatch.... After conducting research, the detectives were able to find a relative of the 4th degree of kinship (who has one common great-grandfather with the criminal), after which they meticulously restored his entire family tree, using methods, including traditional genealogy , such as census data and archival documents. are in the public domain. But this turned out to be not an easy task either. People of the 19th century could have 15 children, and the branch of each of them had to be traced and found in the 70s of the 20th century with the line of the killer. Nevertheless, the search was narrowed down to about 1,000 suspects. The investigation knew that the offender was born between 1940 and 1960, his height was 172 - 178 cm and that he was in Sacramento in 1976, and in the early 80s he moved to the southern part of the state.

Thus, the circle narrowed down to 5 suspects. Then the investigators went to the place of residence of one of them and removed a sample of genetic material from the doorknob of the house in which he lived. The suspicions were confirmed when this sample matched a DNA sample collected from a napkin that the perpetrator threw away at the scene of one of his crimes.

The investigation, which lasted just under 50 years, was completed with the arrest on April 25, 2018 of one of the most famous criminals of the time, 72-year-old former police officer Joseph James Deangelo.

Deangelo on trial

Due to the expired statute of limitations under California law, charges of burglary and rape can no longer be brought against him, but he was charged with 13 murders and 13 cases of kidnapping. The investigations, according to prosecutors, were spent in a total of about $ 20 million . On August 1, 2020, 74-year-old Joseph Deangelo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It would seem like a happy ending to the story, however, this investigation, as well as the methods used to catch DeAngelo, gave rise to a public discussion that will not subside for a long time. The essence of the problem is the notorious privacy, which many people dared to hope for, donating samples of their DNA for any research. The problem is, even if you didn't donate your DNA yourself, your second cousin could have done it for you. According to some experts, the genetic material already available in the databases makes it possible to identify almost 80% of the entire US population. Each person who takes a DNA test "lights up", as if a searchlight of personality, not only himself, but also hundreds of other people who are related to him. Moreover,

So, dear reader, accept that your DNA is most likely included in the database, and if not, it will soon be in it.

(In the preparation of the material, the video of Derek Mueller's Youtube channel Veritasium was used).