before this week , policearrestedJoseph James DeAngelo , 72 , who ’s trust to be the so - called Golden State Killer – responsible for 12 slaying , 51 rapes , and more than 120 burglaries . But how did they get him ?
The shocking fount has spawned a huge amount of public interest group . His victims let in girls and women between the ages of 12 and 41 , spread out across primal and southern California but start out in Sacramento .
The crimes claim place in the 1970s and 80s , with law unable to find a suspect for decade . DeAngelo , a father and former police officer , had been hiding in plain vision living an ordinary life in Sacramento . He was arrested on Tuesday , April 24 .
" We found the needle in the hayrick and it was in good order here in Sacramento , " Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schuberttold reporterson Wednesday . At the moment , the Sacramento Police Department has declined to reveal much information about the investigation as it is still on-going .
Police did say they had identify DeAngelo using DNA evidence . Two previously discarded desoxyribonucleic acid sample led to the eventual equal , with the help of the family tree website GEDmatch , where people can in public share their inherited selective information .
“ DNA ( deoxyribonucleic acid ) is find in every cubicle in our bodies , " notedNational Geographic , “ and , astonishingly , 99.9 percentage of that computer code is exactly the same in every human . The 0.1 percentage of the code that ’s different in each of us is what make us genetically unique . ”
The police first linked a DNA sample take in geezerhood ago with an unidentified relative of DeAngelo on the website . After following him , they then picked up an unidentified object he discarded , which then link him to a number of the crimes .
How they actually did this is up for debate , though , as the police have not revealed detailed info . GEDmatch toldThe Vergethat they “ were not approached by law enforcement or anyone else about this font . ”
One possibility is that they set up a profile on the website using DNA call for from the crime scene , and then looked for matches with any relatives . All of the datum from the internet site seems to be in public useable , meaning they would not have needed to reach the site immediately .
“ No royal court lodge was needed to get at that web site ’s large database of genetic blueprints , " Paul Holes , a retired Contra Costa County District Attorney examiner , order theEast Bay Times .
It raise some questions about the privacy of not just GEDmatch , but other genealogy websites like Ancestry and 23andMe . “ It at once demonstrates the power of genetic genealogy enquiry and expose the many ethical and privacy exit , ” notedThe Atlantic .
Even if you ’ve never used one , parts of your genome are likely available online as a solvent of near or distant relative uploading their own deoxyribonucleic acid . While desoxyribonucleic acid websites like these have helped long lose relative find each other , it can also cut through down the great unwashed who do n’t really want to be found , some who perhaps are n’t as monstrous as DeAngelo .
" If that ’s how the match was obtained , then I would think there would be courtroom conflict to come , " John Roman , a forensics expert from the University of Chicago , told theSacramento Bee .
For some though , that loss of privateness is a small cost to pay up for bringing someone like DeAngelo to justice .
