barbara rae-venter, j.d., ph.d. solved
TRANSCRIPT
BarbaraRae-Venter,J.D.,Ph.D.SOLVED
COLDCASESSOLVED
Disclaimer
This Keynote* and presentation are the opinion of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the
Department of Justice or Bureau of Justice Assistance.
*Apple counterpart of PowerPoint
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
Full Disclosure
I am the Director of Investigative Genetic Genealogy at
Gene by Gene, the parent company of FamilyTreeDNA.
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
On April 25 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their
seminal paper on the structure of DNA in the journal Nature.
On that day, the world changed forever for the biological sciences.
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
On April 25 2018, it was announced that Joseph James DeAngelo
had been arrested the day before on suspicion that
he is the Golden State Killer.
On that day, the world changed forever for criminals
who have left their DNA at a crime scene.
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
65 years later……
Sentencing August 21, 2020
Members of the Golden State Killer Team
Paul Holes (Retired) DA’s Office, Contra Costa County Stephen S Kramer FBI, Los Angeles Melissa A Parisot, FBI, Los Angeles
Monica Czajkowski, DA’s Office, Sacramento County Kirk Campbell, DA’s Office, Sacramento County
Barbara Rae-Venter, Investigative Genetic Genealogist
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
The Power of Investigative Genetic Genealogy
•Paul Holes had worked on the GSK case for 22 years
•The GSK Team identified a suspect in 63 Days from upload to GEDmatch
CurtisRogers
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994
24 April 2018
Over 60 cases have identified suspects with genealogy searching since the Golden
State Killer case arrest
Case Publicity Creates a Cold Case Arrest Phenomenon Across
the United States
Over 200 cases have been solved since GSK’s arrest using IGG
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994
My team and I have assisted in solving about 45 cases
since the arrest of the GSK
•We currently have about 50 pending cases
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994
COLDCASESSOLVED
www.DNAadoption.orgwww.DNAAdoption.orgBarbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D.
[email protected] 831 718 7994
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
u •Visalia Ransacker (1974 to 1975) u •East Area Rapist (1976 to 1979) u •Original Night Stalker (1979 to 1986) u •Golden State Killer (1974 to 1986)
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
TheVisaliaRansacker:onemurderand100+burglaries
September11,1975:VisaliaClaudeSnelling
UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
TheEastAreaRapist(EAR)50Rapesand2Murders
UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
OriginalNightStalker(ONS):10murdersand4rapes
UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
Identifying suspects in or victims of violent crimes:
Sources of DNA
•Blood
•Semen
•Hair
•Rootless
•Bones and teeth (victims)
•Genetic relatives identified in
•GEDmatch
•FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA)
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D.
[email protected] 831 718 7994
•DNA was extracted from a semen sample recovered from Ventura County 1980 rape/homicide victim using standard lab techniques
•Ventura County ME took and froze two samples; onewas used for running tests; the remaining sample was pristine—it had never been thawed—but it was 38 years old
Crime Scene DNA
BennettGreenspan
Peter Speth
•SNP profile was prepared and uploaded to FTDNA and GEDmatch
BennettGreenspan
CurtisRogers
SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism): a mutation that occurs in at least 1% of the population; profile includes 700K-800K SNPs
•The SNP profile obtained using the extracted atDNA is compared in the GEDmatch and FTDNA databases against the atDNA raw data files of other people in each of the databases.
•Matches, people who share DNA with the crime scene DNA, are identified by each company’s matching algorithm. There is no search by LE.
Voluntary upload of SNP Profile to GEDmatch •No DNA is transferred •Disease related SNPs are removed •GEDmatch does no testing •GEDmatch is a public database
OtherDTCTestingCompanies ForensicTestingCompanies
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994WhatisGEDmatch
52% North Atlantic and Baltic 31% East and West Mediterranean
•Born in 1956 or earlier •Lived in California, probably Northern CA •Blue eyes
Profile of Suspect
Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG)*:
•the application of genetic genealogy to solving violent
crimes and identifying unidentified human remains
*also called Forensic
Genetic Genealogy (FGG)
or G
or Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994
GEDmatch matches with GSK SNP Profile
www.DNAPainter.comBarbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D.
[email protected] 831 718 7994
ASpeculativefamilytreefortheGSKisbuiltbasedonthefamilytreeforthelargestmatchidentifiedon
GedmatchorFTDNA.
Tothistreeareaddedmatcheswhosharethesameancestry.
AMostRecentCommonAncestor(MRCA)isidentifiedforthesematches.
BuildSpeculativeTreeandIdentifyMRCA
MRCA is Ada Seely
Build down from the MRCA to identify all descendants
Run Kinship Reports to identify descendant of the correct relationship
KinshipreportsruntoidentifymenwhoarethecorrectrelationshiptobothMatchAandMatchB
Consensual Testing of Woman Closely Related to One of the Nine Men
•Second Cousin match •X chromosome match
Ada Seely is in one of GSK’s maternal lines
X match eliminated three men; down to six candidates
52% North Atlantic and Baltic 31% East and West Mediterranean
•Born in 1956 or earlier •Lived in California, probably Northern CA •Blue eyes
Profile of Suspect
Eye Color from CA DMV Records
DeAngelo’s Family Tree
Summary of Steps •Build trees for matches; combine to form speculative tree
Combine trees for three matches with shared ancestry to identify MRCA. The Perpetrator is amongst the descendants of the MRCA.
•Apply profile information to candidates to identify Perpetrator Profile for GSK included: •Born in 1956 or earlier •lived in California, probably Northern CA •Blue eyes
No candidate other than DeAngelo was both a descendant of the MRCA and fit the profile information
SummaryofStepsinGSKColdCase
Type of Testing for IGG is limited to autosomal DNA
•Only atDNA can be uploaded to GEDmatch •Y DNA can be used as an adjunct only to provide possible surnames for male offenders or victims •Not appropriate to refer to Y DNA testing alone as IGG
•Can lead to false identification
GG uses all three tests. IGG uses atDNA; can be augmented with Y DNA or mtDNA
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. [email protected]
831 718 7994UsedwithpermissionStephenKramer,FBI
Bobby Whitt and Myoung Hwa ChoBarbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
Probably could not give Bobby and his mom their names and justice today
Help me and others who work on IGG cases speak for the victims
of violent crime
Set an example for others
•Do DNA testing at one of the DTC companies
•Encourage your family and friends to test
•Upload your data GEDmatch and Opt In
•Upload your data to/test at FTDNA
Barbara Rae-Venter, J.D. Ph.D. www.GenealogyConsult.com
831 718 7994
QUESTIONS?
BarbaraRae-Venter
www.GenealogyConsult.com
8317187994
HelpCatchACriminal,UploadToGEDmatchandFamilyTreeDNAandOptIn!