News Genetics

New genetic sleuthing tools helped track down the Golden State Killer suspect

Mining genealogy databases to find crime suspects raises privacy concerns

Investigators take evidence out of Joseph DeAngelo's house

GATHERING EVIDENCE  Crime scene investigators from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s office collected boxes of evidence from the home of Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngelo. The case against DeAngelo was built on DNA evidence, including some new genetic sleuthing techniques.

Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Using DNA to find a killer sounds easy: Upload some DNA to a database, get a match and — bingo — suspect found.