–Professor Claire Glynn, director of forensic genetic genealogy at the University of New Haven, commenting on the recent guilty pleas of the Stanford Murders serial killer in the 1973 murder of a 21-year-old law librarian.

Read about what Santa Clara County, CA, law enforcement did to solve this case:

Thanks to a reader for that article, and I agree–these cases are starting to stack up ever since the Golden State Killer case was solved via genetic genealogy and the killer/rapist arrested in April 2018.

For a good explanation of how you can upload your DNA results (from any service) to the free genealogy website GEDmatch, which has been used by law enforcement to help solve over 500 cases, take a listen to the January 16, 2023 podcast episode of DNA:ID https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pamela-maurer-part-1-of-2/id1545785245?i=1000594682441. The explanation of how to transfer DNA-testing results to GEDmatch and how the information is used starts at the 11:19 mark.  Genetic genealogy is used not only to identify ancestry and relatives, it can help identify criminals whose DNA is not in the FBI’s CODIS database (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_DNA_Index_System), identify Jane and John Does, and to exonerate those who have been wrongly convicted.

And, from another reader, an article about what happens when law enforcement doesn’t police its own:

Next I want to write about criminologist Dr. Michael Arntfield’s observations about DNA testing not being the panacea many think it is, especially in cases involving multiple perpetrators, as well as the “fear of success” and risk-taking by some police decision-makers in cold cases. See How to Solve a Cold Case and everything else you wanted to know about catching killers, Michael Arntfield, Ph.D., HarperCollins, 2022.