Golden State Killer suspect Joseph James DeAngelo caught by using relative's DNA from genealogy websites

Golden State Killer suspect has been caught using a relative's DNA
REUTERS
Lucia Binding27 April 2018

The Golden State Killer suspect was caught by investigators using a relative's DNA from genealogy websites, prosecutors said.

Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested on Tuesday after California investigators matched crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored by a distant relative on an online site.

They narrowed it down to the Sacramento-area grandfather using DNA obtained from material he had discarded, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said.

Authorities declined to name the online site.

Suspect Joseph James DeAngelo
Getty Images

Two of the largest, Ancestry.com and 23andMe, have since claimed they were not involved.

DNA could have potentially played an earlier role in solving the case.

It was just starting to be used as a criminal investigative tool in 1986 when the predator, variously known as the East Area Rapist and the Golden State Killer, was thought to have ended his decade-long wave of attacks.

"He knew police techniques," said John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Louis Schlesinger. "He was smart."

There are no strong privacy laws to keep police from searching ancestry site databases, said Steve Mercer, the chief lawyer for the forensic division of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

Some believe the ground-breaking technique may raise troubling legal and privacy concerns for the millions of people who submit their DNA to such sites to discover their heritage.

Mr Mercer said: "People who submit DNA for ancestors testing are unwittingly becoming genetic informants on their innocent family."

He added that they "have fewer privacy protections than convicted offenders whose DNA is contained in regulated databanks".

The Golden State Killer is believed to have been responsible for at least a dozen murders, 50 rapes and dozens of burglaries from 1976 to 1986.

Prosecutors have charged Mr DeAngelo with eight killings after he was identified as the suspect.

Investigators searched Mr DeAngelo's home on Thursday looking for rings, earrings, dishes and other items that were taken from crime scenes as well as weapons.

His neighbours, relatives and former acquaintances all say they had no inkling that he could be a serial killer and described him as a "nice old granpa" .

He worked for nearly three decades in a Sacramento-area supermarket warehouse as a truck mechanic before retiring last year.

Mr DeAngelo also worked as a police officer in the farming town of Exeter, not far from Visalia, from 1973 to 1976.

Mr DeAngelo was a "black sheep" who did not joke around with other officers, said former police colleague Farrel Ward, 75.

"I've been thinking, but there's no indication whatsoever that anything was wrong," he said. "How could you just go out and kill somebody and go back and go to work? I don't understand that."

Later, Mr DeAngelo joined the Auburn Police Department outside of Sacramento but was fired in 1979 after he was caught shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent.

Investigators say they have linked DeAngelo to 11 killings that occurred after he was fired.

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