Photo courtesy of the Winona County Sheriff's Office.įrom there, it’s a matter of building out the family tree from past to present day. This creates a potential gold mine for law enforcement agencies with DNA on hand - either to solve a crime or to identify a missing person, particularly when paired with modern day genealogy. If someone were to send their DNA to 23andMe and receive information regarding their genetics and family members, those matches would typically expand when paired with data collected through other direct-to-consumer testing sites like. In 2021, 83 percent of GEDmatch users opted in for law enforcement use of their data, according to the Journal of Law and the Biosciences.ĭatabases like GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA essentially bring together all the DNA data collected through the various direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies. While direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies - including those owned by and 23andMe - do not provide data or information to law enforcement agencies, more comprehensive tools - like GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA - do provide users the option to share uploaded DNA data with law enforcement.Īs it turns out, a lot of people choose to share DNA data with law enforcement. It was the first high-profile case that delved into the data provided by direct-to-consumer genealogy test kits. “I rely on them saying, ‘Here’s the person you need to speak with to get us closer to that limb on that tree that we’re trying to get closer to, which is a match to our Baby Angel… or a closer match,” Mueller said.įorensic genealogy made headlines in 2018 when the Golden State Killer was arrested through the use of genetic databases and family tree construction. Those leads have been followed up on by the Winona County Sheriff’s Office with the collection of DNA evidence from those identified as potential pieces of the family tree puzzle. “To this day we are still following up on some leads currently with them through some genealogy research and things like that.” As they receive additional information, we sometimes receive additional information,” Mueller said. census, birth records, death records, obituaries and newspaper archives. However, that picture is painted even clearer when paired with genealogical research tools, including the U.S. Uploading DNA samples to a database is helpful in determining potential familial matches. Parabon’s Snapshot Genetic Genealogy is especially useful in identifying human remains.
The Sheriff’s Office is actively working with Parabon, a private organization that assists law enforcement agencies with tools that pair DNA databases with genealogy. Winona County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Mueller told Forum News Service that forensic genealogy is at the heart of the investigation. Identifying Baby Angel with forensic genealogy
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